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From
Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 02, Dated 14 Jan 2012 |
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| CURRENT AFFAIRS |
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CBI AUTONOMY |
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Leave Them Sleuths Alone
By Ashish Khetan
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Illustration: Samia Singh |
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IN THESE times blighted by corruption, we have been deluged with self-proclaimed magic potions to weed out the malaise of graft, crony capitalism and the deeprooted nexus between the public servant and private corporations. Among the burning issues related to the Lokpal debate, the stickiest contention has been the question of how to make the CBI more honest and fair while probing people in power.
Almost everybody, except the government, acknowledges that the biggest impediment in the CBI’s functioning is political interference in its work and extraneous pressure brought upon its officials. This government and those before it have misused the CBI both to persecute the Opposition parties and cover up its own malfeasance and corruption. There is urgent need to empower the CBI and insulate it from political meddling. But along with it comes the fear of vesting too much power in an agency, which if left unaccountable could possibly go rogue.
TEHELKA posed the riddle of fixing the CBI to four eminent legal luminaries who have, from close quarters, seen both the application and distortion of the rule of law. They were all unanimous in their opinion that the status quo is undesirable and prescribed various innovative lawful methods to free the agency from the vice grip of the government, while at the same time ensuring accountability and non-partisanship in its investigation. TEHELKA also spoke to the only CBI director to have worked under both the UPA and NDA regimes. He too emphasised the crying need to make the CBI autonomous and independent. The prescriptions of these five distinguished experts provide a reassuring middle ground between the flag-waving overreach of Team Anna and the opportunism of the government.
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Justice JS Verma, Former Chief Justice of India
‘On probes, the CBI should be answerable only to the courts’
IN 1991, the arrest of a Hizbul Mujahideen militant set in motion raids on hawala brokers, which in turn revealed large-scale payments made to a wide range of politicians. The case went to the CBI but the agency showed little appetite for discovering the truth. In 1993, Vineet Narain, a journalist and prominent social activist, filed a PIL in the Supreme Court complaining of inertia by the CBI in the matter that later came to be known as the Jain Hawala case. In a historic judgment delivered on 18 December 1997, the SC laid down around two dozen guidelines to ensure autonomy and independence of the CBI, fair and just probes and transparency in the selection of the CBI director. It was this judgment that put the Central Vigilance Commission in superintendence over the CBI. Former Chief Justice of India JS Verma, who was the author of this landmark judgment, shares his views with Abhishek Bhalla on the debate around the CBI.
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US Misra Former CBI Director
‘Both the UPA and NDA have interfered with cases’
US Misra was among half-adozen retired CBI directors who had extensive deliberations with the incumbent CBI Director AP Singh to formulate a commonly shared plan for reforming the agency. Singh later presented this joint formula before the Parliamentary Standing Committee in-charge of framing the Lokpal Bill. In an interview with Ashish Khetan, Misra reveals the various methods through which the government encumbers the CBI. Read More > |
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Harish Salve, Former Solicitor General
‘The CBI should not be under the Lokpal or the government’
FORMER SOLICITOR General and amicus curiae in several seminal cases of public interest, such as the Gujarat riots, Harish Salve tells Ashish Khetan that corruption can’t be curbed if the CBI continues to be under the government’s thumb.
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Gopal Subramanium, Former Solicitor General
‘When an investigation is shoddy, 75 percent of it involves a hidden agenda’
Gopal Subramanium is regarded as one of the best legal minds in our country. In his capacity as Solicitor General, he served the UPA government for two years between June 2009 and July 2011, carrying out the unenviable job of defending a scandal-ridden government before the courts. His stint as the second senior-most law officer of the country was characterised with competence and credibility. But political machinations in a deeply divided government ensured that he had to quit in an unceremonious way. In an interview with Ashish Khetan, Subramanium prescribes the remedies to improve the efficiency and impartiality of the agency whose reputation is at an all-time low.
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Rajindar Sachar Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court
‘An independent CBI director can still be held answerable and accountable’
NOT MANY people know that former chief justice of the Delhi and Sikkim High Courts, Justice Rajindar Sachar was also a trade union leader and was jailed during the Emergency. After retirement from the judiciary, he was elected president of the PUCL. In 2005, he was named the chairperson of the high-level committee formed by the prime minister to look into the state of Muslims. Justice Sachar tells Ashish Khetan that the first step in the direction of curbing corruption is to free the CBI from government control.
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