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Autonomy For The CBI Is The Only Solution

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-11-10 15:25:33

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

In 2013, the Supreme Court has described the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as "a caged parrot" and said that it listened only to "his master's voice", meaning the ruling dispensation at the Centre. Being a federal agency, the CBI is controlled by the Central government. How it is used, or misused, means a lot to how crimes that span across the country or even big crimes in states too controversial or hot for the state police to handle are solved. The Madras HC had issued guidelines in August 2021 for the Centre to make the CBI independent.

Although most governments at the Centre have regularly used the CBI for political gains by targeting opposition politicians or politically-related persons and businessmen who did not bow before them, the situation got out of hand when many states got to be ruled by opposition parties between 2014 and now. Hence, states such as West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Mizoram have withdrawn the general consent granted to the CBI for conducting investigations in their states. The CBI has now got to take case-by-case permission from these states, which according to the agency hampers investigations.

The Supreme Court has now agreed to examine the issue saying that states withdrawing consent to CBI is not a "desirable position". The CBI also said that various high courts also stay investigations and this was also having an impact. The court agreed to examine that also.

While the Supreme Court has adopted the correct legal stance, the bigger issue is of CBI autonomy. Unless a federal investigating agency is independent and is free from interference by the ruling dispensation, it will never be trusted by opposition-ruled states. If the law says that states can withhold general consent and if the states feel that the CBI is being misused, they are well within their rights to withhold it.

The CBI is also right in saying that seeking case-by-case permission from states and frequent stay orders from high courts hamper investigations. But the solution lies in making the CBI independent. Only then will it be seen as a non-partisan body and will be trusted by all. As long as the Centre controls it and uses it as it pleases, there will be differences with opposition-ruled states and cases will be filed in high courts that will stay the investigations. Since the Supreme Court is now seized of the matter, it will definitely suggest the way forward. But the two issues will only be solved when the CBI is given complete autonomy. 

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