The CBI has come under close judicial and media scrutiny for the way it handled cases involving political leaders such as Mayawati, Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, Mulayam Singh Yadav.
A parliamentary panel has asked the government to enact a law making the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) an independent statutory body so that it doesn’t become a tool in the hands of the political class.
The parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances and law and justice headed by Jayanthi Natarajan examined action taken reports filed by the CBI on concerns raised in various quarters about the impartiality of the probe agency. It found the CBI’s response to these allegations unsatisfactory. The panel also found increasing politicisation of the probe agency.
The CBI has come under close judicial and media scrutiny for the way it handled cases involving political leaders such as Mayawati, Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family members.
The probe agency has often drawn flak over taking the help of leading government attorneys to suit wishes of the ruling class to
prosecute or drop charges against a leader.
The department of prosecution, which takes a decision to put an accused on trial, should be headed by the CBI’s own director of prosecution, the panel said.
The CBI continues to find it in an awkward situation due to political indulgence. It is headed by IPS officers who are chosen by the politically dominated screening committee.
The Natarajan panel noticed many instances of “misuse of power” by CBI personnel.
The CBI told the panel that in 438 cases, charges were not filed even after 10 years. The committee in return, recommended that targets should be fixed on a time-to-time basis, and wholehearted efforts should be made to meet the targets.
“There should be a maximum time limit for disposal of a case. It should not be more than one year in ordinary circumstances. And if the sanction isn’t granted within 15 days to prosecute a senior bureaucrat or a minister, it should be deemed that the agency could proceed with the case,” the panel suggested.
As many members of the committee expressed concern on trial by media with the fodder being allegedly supplied by CBI, the panel said the agency should regularly update its website as required under the Right to Information Act.
A designated CBI officer should disseminate information to the media and every care should be taken not to disclose the name, particulars of any person, whether a political personality, a bureaucrat or a common man, before the offence is proved against him, the panel said.
With the Supreme Court’s ruling that high courts and the apex court can order a CBI probe in a case of human rights violation by any state police, the job of understaffed CBI has become difficult.
The new law should enlarge the ambit of the CBI’s jurisdiction by empowering it to take up cases in any state and Union Territory without the sanction of authorities, the panel suggested.
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