What’s Wrong With the C.B.I.? Former Directors Weigh In

Altaf Qadri/Associated Press

NEW DELHI â€"India’s premier federal investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, was reprimanded by the Supreme Court on Wednesday over the agency’s initial investigation into corruption allegations regarding the government’s allocation of coal blocks.

The agency, also known as C.B.I., admitted in court that it shared its reports with the law minister, senior officials of the Ministry of Coal and the office of the prime minister and incorporated changes suggested by them.

The C.B.I. is under the administrative control of the central government, which opens itself up to criticism that the agency often compromises its corruption investigations of government officials. During the last decade, at least four former directors of the agency were given high-level government positions, with ministerial perks. India Ink spoke to four former directors and joint directors on this issue, and what they think should change:

Vijay Shankar, former director of the C.B.I.:

The C.B.I. cannot be seen in isolation of the criminal justice system. There is a complete collapse of the criminal justice system, and the C.B.I. is the part of that system. More than 35 million cases are pending in different courts, and half of them are criminal cases. An investigation agency should be committed to an independent and fair investigation. It is not a question of the independence of the C.B.I. It is a question of whether you are committed to the rule of law. The F.B.I. works under the federal government, and the F.B.I. director remains in that position for 10 years, and they do a fairly independent job. The C.B.I. cannot be independent of government. It has to be under the government control because it is the government which is responsible for Parliament.

N. K. Singh, former joint director of the C.B.I.:

The institutional mechanism of the C.B.I. is not very sound. There is no independent act of the C.B.I. The C.B.I. still works under the Delhi Special Police Act of 1963. Several mechanisms introduced through court direction, like superintendence by Central Vigilance Commission, a committee to choose the C.B.I. director and a two-year fixed term. In the present arrangement, the C.B.I.’s power to take suo moto action is in a very limited number of cases. In many cases the C.B.I. needs the consent of the state and central government. In the process, many days, weeks are lapsed. In that process, the evidence is lapsed, the person concerned is alerted.

The bulk of the senior officers work with the state government. The C.B.I. needs state consent to prosecute them. Also, the C.B.I. works under the dual control of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and the government. The permission to prosecute shall be given to an independent body like Lokpal. An independent C.B.I. act shall be passed with much more sound legal powers.

R. K. Raghavan, former director of the C.B.I.:

Under present dispensation, the C.B.I. cannot be independent. It depends heavily on government for infrastructure. Also, it cannot even do a preliminary inquiry against higher echelons of government without permission. Government permission is required for first information reports, prosecution and appeal against court acquittals.

The C.B.I. needs major legal change such as a C.B.I. act to confer autonomy. Autonomy to C.B.I. is desirable if courts at all levels monitor investigations.

The C.B.I. image has certainly received a severe beating. The meeting of the C.B.I. director was not improper, but sharing the report and agreeing to changes suggested by him was a grievous impropriety. The government has bought the loyalties of some past C.B.I. directors through post-retirement jobs. I would suggest five-year tenure for the C.B.I. director, with a total ban on post-retirement government jobs.

Joginder Singh, former director of the C.B.I.:

The C.B.I. needs functional autonomy as it is given to F.B.I. and C.I.A. in U.S.A. If it is not given autonomy, all political parties will misuse the C.B.I.

The India’s election commission and comptroller and auditor general are independent. Heavens will not fall if the C.B.I. is also made an autonomous body. At present, the C.B.I. is under complete control of the central government, and no political party would like to lose that control.

At present the credibility of C.B.I. is as good as the credibility of the present day government.