CBI needs to have statutory status Like EC, CAG: Madras High Court

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has passed a slew of directions to the central government to ensure autonomy and independence of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The HC observed that the directions would “release the caged parrot” — the CBI. Observing that the central investigation agency “shall be made more independent” like the Election Commission of India and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the high court directed the government to “consider and take a decision for enactment of a separate Act giving statutory status with more powers and jurisdiction to CBI at the earliest”.

"Caged parrot" was a term used by a bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India RM Lodha to describe the CBI in 2013, when a Congress-led coalition was in power. The top court had then observed that the "CBI is a caged parrot speaking his master's voice".


On Tuesday, a high court division bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and B Pugalendhi also directed “separate budgetary allocation” for the CBI. It observed that the CBI director “shall be given powers at that of the secretary of the government and shall directly report to the minister/Prime Minister without going through Department of Personnel and Training ”.

In another significant direction, the court said the central government “shall make CBI independent with functional autonomy without administrative control of the government”.

It held that the Central Forensic Science Laboratory “shall have more modern facilities and should be augmented on par with the facilities available to Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States of America and Scotland Yard in the United Kingdom”.