Government submits affidavit on CBI autonomy in Supreme Court

Mangalore Today/CNN-IBN

New Delhi, July 3: The government has filed its 41-page affidavit on the autonomy of the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Supreme Court. The affidavit says that a collegium headed by the Prime Minister and also consisting the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha will be responsible for the appointment and removal of the CBI Director.

The 3-member commission will also inquire into allegations of misbehaviour on CBI officials. The government has proposed an amendment in the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act of 1946, under which the CBI was set up.

 

The government in its affidavit also says that the CBI Director will be from the IPS and he or she shall hold office for not less than two years. It says that the Director can be removed from office only by the order of the President.

The affidavit says there will be another committee of the CVC, Home Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training Secretary and the CBI Director to appoint other officers. It says the Central government won’t interfere with the investigation or disposal of cases.

The affidavit also say that there will be a Director of Prosecution who will be of the rank of Additional Secretary and shall be responsible for the supervising and monitoring of cases in the court. An accountabilty commission will also be formed consisting of retired Supreme Court and High Court judges.

A Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram had earlier cleared the affidavit to be placed before the Supreme Court. The affidavit contains proposals by the GoM to grant greater autonomy to the CBI. The final hearing on the affidavit will now take place on July 10.

The group was formed on the Supreme Court’s orders. The court gave the government time till July 3 to come up proposals for greater autonomy to the CBI. The court had indicted the government for its interference in the agency’s functioning and asked it to come up with an affidavit on steps to make the CBI autonomous.

The Cabinet had last week approved a recommendation by a Parliamentary panel that the CBI Director should be selected by a collegium comprising of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha. The BJP alleged the Congress-led UPA government has misused and abused CBI not only against political opponents but also to make its allies fall in line.

The move has not impressed BJP which alleged the government is not serious about granting autonomy to the probe agency and continues to misuse it for its political gains. "We believe that the government move’s to give autonomy to CBI is not only much delayed but is also far from perfect. Government should ensure real and effective autonomy to CBI as per the wish of the people, indicated by the courts and recommended by the Parliamentary committee," BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters in Delhi.

BJP said it appears unlikely that the government will be able to give a convincing opinion on July 3 to the Supreme Court on providing real autonomy to CBI. "The massive misuse of most constitutional institutions and especially CBI that this Congress-led UPA government has made is unprecedented and condemnable," Trivedi charged.

The Supreme Court had in May taken a very strong stand and called the investigating agency a "caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice". While seeking an undertaking from the government that the CBI would be made independent, the three-judge bench headed by Justice RM Lodha, had also added that giving unbridled powers to the agency was not a possibility. The court had said it will step in if the CBI was not made an autonomous body.