'Blaming The CBI Is Akin To Barking Up The Wrong Tree'

By RK Raghavan (Guest Writer)

I am extremely distressed that the CBI is being assailed repeatedly by people who should actually defend it. 

The gravamen of the charge is that the CBI is thoughtlessly meddling in what is purely the province of the government, viz, policy making. As a result it is alleged that there is a near paralysis in decision-making at the highest levels in the bureaucracy. The hint is that the CBI better keep off this sacred territory and leave it to the elected representatives to sort out any infirmities in implementing policy. 
The CBI has been further told that when a public servant has acted in a manner that suggests no mens rea (criminal intention) and he has only caused pecuniary loss to government and gain to a private individual or private organization, he should not be hauled up. (Such a benign view of a public servant’s negligence, if not complicity, negates a part of Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act as amended in 1988, the deletion of which is proposed by a bill that is pending in Parliament.) 

This entire homily is when the Coal scam is still under investigation. The message is obvious. 
The CBI will proceed further in the matter only at its own peril. This may not tantamount to contempt of the apex court. But comes very close to it.

There are certain basic facts which the public should know. I quite agree that the CBI is not omniscient. Nor do I take the preposterous stand that there are no officers in the organisation who are not straightforward or not vindictive. At the same time even the most biased critic should concede that a majority of those who work for the CBI are professionals with a clear understanding of their roles. 

Also, some of its investigators could be clueless with regard to what a policy and a routine administrative act are. But it must be remembered that the CBI has some of the brightest officers in the country who supervise the lesser mortals who do the actual investigation in the field.  To berate the CBI for not comprehending the distinction is therefore unfair. The impression generated somehow is that the CBI is predatory and constantly looking for prey. 

The burden of my song is that, in most of the recent scams, the CBI is acting not of its own volition or enlightenment. It is actually being driven by the highest court of the land which is exercised over the growing malfeasance in governance. My belief is that those who cannot take on the court are now cribbing about the CBI. 

The fault lies in the system and not the men who work therein. The Constitution has reasonably clearly demarcated the territories of governance. If the Judiciary has occasionally given the impression of encroaching on the Executive’s jurisdiction, it is because of the latter’s shortcomings and failures. 

The Centre’s latest submission to the Supreme Court rejecting the demand for additional powers to the CBI does not, therefore, come as a surprise. Its stand that a CBI director cannot be given the status of a Secretary to government seems specious. 

One reason given is that any concession shown to the CBI would generate similar demands from other Central Police Organisations (CPOs). This is strange. Since when has the CBI become equated with the CISF, BSF and the ITBP, which are not investigative agencies that should operate outside government? 

The CBI is a class by itself. Its functions crave for the organization’s autonomy. Any move which concedes at least a fraction of the demand cannot be deemed dangerous or impractical. I am hopeful that wisdom will dawn on the Executive sooner than later! An emasculated CBI that reports to the Executive is a contradiction of all that the common man and the apex court expect from it.

(The writer is a former CBI director)