India's premier investigative agency has a small budget while its American counterpart has billions at its disposal. Also, while the CBI is restricted to serving the political class in India, the FBI's tentacles reach every corner of the US
The Central Bureau of Investigation is becoming a non-credible and tainted agency. It won’t be long before the it is deemed to be a club of politically manipulated officers. The sudden closure of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s disproportionate assets case some days back is just one example that proves this fact. It, of course, coincides with Mr Yadav extending his political patronage to the Government.
The CBI is known as the agency that is politically manipulated and used, reused and abused at large. Just think of the manner in which the 2G Spectrum scam and Commonwealth Games corruption cases (wherein UPA leaders were involved) were investigated by the bureau. It is no wonder then that tales of the weak-willed and soft-natured CBI are told and retold in the corridors of power.
There is enough proof that in the recent past, the nodal agency has been used to settle big political scores. Sample some of the cases handled by the CBI — against YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy (disproportionate asset case), against Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati (disproportionate asset case), the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case (to trap the Government of Gujarat), the Reddy brothers case (arrested as they were reportedly close to the BJP). These are in addition to the manner in which the Government uses the CBI to conceal its own wrong-doings.
The CBI should be made independent like the Comptroller and Auditor-General and the Election Commission of India. But then, this is easier said than done This is where the Supreme Court should intervene.
The apex court should form an independent committee and investigate the activities of the CBI. It should immediately pass an order making the CBI accountable to a special committee formed by former Chief Justices, military veterans and the present Chief Justice. That will go a long way in preventing the agency from being treated like a door-mat by corrupt politicians.
Today, the premier investigation agency looks like a typical Government office run by bureaucrats with no vision or objective. No doubt, the CBI suffers from a shortage of staff but most of the current officers have been reduced to puppets who are managed by the political class. To make matters worse, the CBI comes under the archaic Delhi Special Police Establishment Act which has become obsolete for all practical purposes.
let’s, for once, compare the CBI with its American counterpart, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The CBI has intentionally been made a defunct agency. The purpose is to cripple its investigative methods and make manipulation easier for those with vested interests. The average budget of the CBI over the past few years has not risen from the range of Rs 400-450 crore ($64-$72 million) per year. Compare that to the budget of $8.23 billion that the FBI has at its disposal (FY2013). This further dilutes the core motives of the CBI.
The desperation and handicaps of the CBI can be gauged by the manner in which it has been portrayed in Indian cinema. Compare this to the strong manner in which the FBI and its officers are shown in most Hollywood flicks. One can hardly remember an Indian film that portrays an effective and efficient CBI in today’s era. If reality is portrayed on the big screen, then it’s a very disappointing truth that we are dealing with.
On the other hand, there won’t be enough space if one were to sit down and enlist foreign films where the FBI and even the Central Intelligence Agency have been shown battling crime in the most desirable and strong-willed fashion.
The problem is that the CBI is too centralised. This further increases political interference. And interestingly, a major chunk of the money allocated to the CBI is directed towards establishment cost and infrastructure. Yet, the agency is located at one place and not spread across the nation like the FBI, which has its tentacles reaching every nook and corner of America.
What remains to be offered to the CBI staff in the form of salaries is peanuts. Monthly salaries range between Rs 5,000 and Rs 80,000. Again, compare this to a freshly recruited FBI special agent’s monthly salary of around $3,583 (Rs 2,22,849 per month at current conversion rates). In short, the CBI boils down to an agency that lacks well-paid officers. They live a lifestyle that is unacceptable for officers of such repute, especially when you consider the magnitude and importance of cases they investigate. The other problem is that the CBI is a centralised agency whose money is spent of buildings and not on its staff members. Consequently, the bureau’s officers face budget crunches during the course of their daily chores.
This is where one would like to request the Supreme Court’s intervention. Under such circumstances, the apex court should only be allowed to deploy the allocated funds keeping in mind the best interests of the agency. The authorities should immediately ask the CBI to be more accountable to the Supreme Court and its special committee formed for this particular purpose. Such a step would automatically solve multiple issues of the CBI — centralisation, budget shortage and political intervention. Keeping the CBI in the clutches of the political class will only ruin the agency.
(The author is a management guru and honorary director of IIPM Think Tank)