With scam after scam coming to light during past two years, the image of prestigious investigating agency namely Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has met with sharp downslide. Something like omnipresent in the investigation of mega scam cases, the CBI has been tormented by two conflicting situations. Being a Government agency and only nominally autonomous, it has been made subservient to the interference by political executive on one hand. On the other hand, as scam cases are going through judicial process, CBI feels guilty of hiding the facts or making incorrect statements. For this reason it has become a laughing stock in the eyes of the Apex Court and naturally in the eyes of the general public as well. Aspersion cast by the Supreme Court Bench hearing the Coalgate scam case has torn the credibility of the CBI to shreds. The Bench has gone to the extent of telling it that while the Supreme Court trusts it, the CBI has been hiding the truth from the court. In a rare and most surprising observation the Bench has said that after having found what the CBI was up to, its first talk would be to “liberate it from extraneous considerations, political influence, intrusion and other interferences.”
In the light of the Constitution, the CBI has to be an autonomous agency. It means that no Government authority or political structure can influence it or interfere in its functioning. Its essential duty is to conduct investigation in sensitive matters that pertain to the security, integrity and stability of the nation. But what has been written in the Constitution has never been practically followed by the CBI. And the entire onus will not come to the doorsteps of the CBI and its seniors and juniors. Political structure in the country has always tried to exercise influence and control over the agency leaving it little freedom of action and decision especially when very sensitive cases are involved. Complaints from the people and also from certain official sources have been made in the past that CBI does not conduct itself impartially. For example in the Coalgate scam case the court said that even after 15 years of Vineet Narain judgement to make CBI independent, the political clout still “frustrates” its impartiality.”
The CBI has conducted itself miserably in this case. In an affidavit Additional Solicitor General Haren Raval had made an assertive statement on March 12 that the status report prepared by CBI was not shared with anyone. But the Court suspected the veracity of this statement and probed the matter. Then surprisingly, the Director of CBI, feeling that the Court was zeroing in on the facts of the case volunteered to submit that the status report had been shared with the Law Minister, two joint secretaries at the PMO and the Ministry of Coal. The opposition in the Parliament had already created a row and demanded the scalp of the Law Minister. The Prime Minister was quick to protect him but in the process the Additional Solicitor General Haren Raval had to tender his resignation to the Law Minister. In self defence and clarification of his position, Raval who has been made the scapegoat, wrote a hard hitting letter to the Attorney General G E Vahanvati in which he accused him of interfering in the preparation of CBI’s probe report and was made a scapegoat in the matter.
There is wheel within wheel and layer after layer of Coalgate scam. Deep involvement of political class is becoming clearer with each passing day. The Supreme Court is convinced that no impartiality can be expected from the CBI in given circumstances. Now that the CBI has lost its credibility with the Supreme Court by its own confession, the question is what to do with the organization? As it is confirmed that it cannot deliver the goods it was expected to deliver, it is for the civil society and our law makers to take up for serious debate how to ensure independence of this organization and how to insulate it against extraneous influences? Civil society has been demanding overhauling of CBI since a long time. The time has come for that exercise. There are audible rumblings within the organization and accusations and counter-accusations diminish its profile and influence. According to the judgement of the court, the CBI has been conducting its duty in a manner that shakes the very foundation of justice in the country.
How will CBI be liberated from the shackles that are tying it down to the whims and wishes of the political executive? We believe that political executive should be made culpable in case it is proved that they attempted to influence or interfere in the functioning of the agency. Secondly, the top echelons of the CBI may have to be provided constitutional and administrative immunity with certain restrictions so that they conduct inquiry and investigation into alleged criminal cases without fear or favour. Functionaries of the CBI should not be made scapegoats for the faults of others especially the political bigwigs. An autonomous investigative agency should be directly under the Parliament and answerable to the Parliament and not the Home Ministry or PMO. It might also call for bringing in amendment to the Constitution. All possibilities should be explored with focus on the only objective of making the ace investigating agency free of all bonds and shackles. Observations of the Supreme Court can be the turning point in the history of criminology in the country.
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