Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 4: Referring to the intimidation of CBI officers by the West Bengal Government at the behest of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also In-Charge Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), which is the nodal ministry for CBI, said here today that obstructing CBI from performing its duty is itself clearly a “criminal” offence.
Addressing media here today, Dr Jitendra Singh recalled, this is just in contrast to the high standards of public conduct and propriety that were established by Narendra Modi as the then Chief Minister of Gujarat when a series of motivated and unsubstantiated cases were filed against him by CBI at the behest of the UPA Government, but not even once did Modi as Chief Minister obstruct the working of CBI and instead, voluntarily offered to face interrogation for hours together at a stretch. By doing so, he said, Modi reiterated his faith in the rule of law and legally fought out the cases filed against him, and finally obtained a clean-chit.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, what is being witnessed in Kolkata is not only unbecoming of a high political functionary like Chief Minister, but is also a clear violation of the constitutional propriety and the spirit of law. He said, the CBI case was filed in 2014 on the directions of the Supreme Court before the Modi Government had taken over.
Dr Jitendra Singh went on to elaborate that when the concerned State Police Officer associated with the SIT in this case refused to respond to the repeated summons by the CBI to appear for interrogation, the CBI was left with no option but to reach out to him. But, when it did so, the CBI officials were not only harassed but also prevented from performing their legitimate duty.
As per the DoPT guidelines, Dr Jitendra Singh said, a government functionary, is expected to conduct himself in a “politically neutral” manner, but here was the instance of a high-ranking police officer sitting on Dharna on a political platform.
Refuting Mamata Banerjee’s charge that this was an assault on the federal structure, Dr Jitendra Singh said, on the contrary, the action of the West Bengal Government and the Chief Minister had eroded the federal spirit of closely coordinated working between the Centre and the State without intruding into each other’s domain and at the same time, leaving enough space for each other.
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