Sinha: Govt could have given CBI autonomy without SC intervention

Sinha said it was an eye-opener that these powers could have been given earlier without the apex court’s intervention.

Autonomy could have been provided to the CBI by the government without the intervention of the Supreme Court, CBI director Ranjit Sinha said Tuesday, maintaining that the agency never wanted to work out of government’s purview. “I don’t know if it was to show supremacy of the bureaucracy over the investigating agency or something else. No rules were required to be violated. So much for the intent of the government to provide autonomy to CBI,” he said at the golden jubilee function of the Central Vigilance Commission.

Sinha said the agency asked for more functional autonomy on orders of the Supreme Court, but it was taken “differently” and an incorrect impression was created that the CBI wanted to be out of the government’s purview.

“It was never our intention to work out of the government. The end result was government thought to give some more functional autonomy in the sense that we were given some more financial autonomy and some more administrative powers,” he said.

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Sinha said it was an eye-opener that these powers could have been given earlier without the apex court’s intervention. He said he was aware that CBI’s operational freedom is linked with greater responsibility and accountability.

Former C&AG Vinod Rai, also a panelist, suggested that those in power need to be transparent. He said it was a common complaint that investigative agencies were unable to function within the given parameters of the mandate. “I think this is in some way an alibi for their non performance.”

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