A Group of Ministers has recommended setting up a panel of retired judges to oversee the investigations done by CBI so as to insulate it from external influence thereby making the agency both autonomous and accountable. The Union Cabinet will deliberate on June 27 the GoM’s suggestion of setting up an accountability committee of retired judges which would oversee the probes being
carried out by the CBI to ensure that there is no interference by the Government in any investigation.
The GoM, chaired by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, concluded its hearing on Monday and would submit its recommendations for the deliberation of the Cabinet. Based on the feedback received from the Cabinet on the changes in the law proposed by the GoM, an affidavit will be submitted in the Supreme Court on July 6 to make CBI autonomous but also accountable, law Minister Kapil Sibal said after the one and a half-hour-long meeting.
“We have decided, and that is fundamental principle of the Constitution, that there should be no interference of Government or any other agency in the probe carried out by CBI or any other agency. We are committed to that. We feel that there should be accountability along with autonomy,” he said.
The GoM, which has met for three times, is not inclined to bring drastic changes in the functioning of the CBI, Government sources said. CBI Director Ranjit Sinha was present at the meeting which was also attended by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy. But External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid could not attend the meeting.
The GoM was constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the Supreme Court on May 6 had indicted the CBI for being a “caged parrot” of its political masters while hearing a case related to alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation. It had directed the Government to make an effort to come out with a law to insulate the CBI from external influence and intrusion.
The court’s observation had come following an affidavit from the CBI Director admitting to have shared a draft coal blocks allocation probe report with former law Minister Ashwani Kumar and two joint secretaries — Shatrughna Singh and AK Bhalla — in the Prime Minister’s Office and Coal Ministry respectively. The CBI has so far registered 13 FIRs and questioned the two former officials as witness in the case.