CBI doesn't want to be under Lokpal, prefers autonomy

NEW DELHI: Officers of the country’s premier investigating agency, CBI, are against Team Anna’s proposal to hive off its anti-corruption wing and merge it with the proposed Lokpal.

Their views on the subject will be conveyed to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice, which is vetting the various versions of the Lokpal Bill, at its next sitting on September 7. CBI and CVC will place their views on the subject before the parliamentary panel headed by senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The civil society brigade has stirred a debate across the country on its proposal, encapsulated in the Jan Lokpal bill, recommending bifurcation of CBI, and clubbing its anti-corruption wing with the proposed ombudsman, to shield it from political interference. As CBI functions under the supervision of the government, Team Anna argues that its investigations cannot be fair and independent.

In the past few weeks, an intense discussion has been on within CBI on its future status. Director AP Singh has held meetings with senior team members to deliberate upon issues thrown up by the debate. And the consensus emerging from these confabulations was that CBI officers would advocate functional autonomy than bringing it under another agency.

CBI, a senior official pointed out, should be allowed to retain its numero-uno position and granted complete freedom in the tasks assigned to it – that of registering, investigating and prosecuting cases. Tinkering with CBI’s structure by taking the anti-corruption wing away from it and placing it under another body, he contended, was not going to bring any fundamental changes in its working. “What we need is complete freedom and autonomy,’’ said another officer.

BJP has been arguing in favour of granting autonomy to institutions such as CBI, though it did not do this when it was in power.