Government rejects CBI bid for greater autonomy

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday rejected CBI's bid for greater functional autonomy, dismissing the agency's claims that the absence of this was leading to long delays in approvals for items such as laptops and mobiles.

"Laptops and mobiles don't stand in the way of functional autonomy," attorney general GE Vahanvati told the Supreme Court. "Guwahati does," he said, alluding to the recent high court ruling that the existence of the CBI was unconstitutional as the order setting it up in 1964 wasn't legally tenable. The Central government has challenged that ruling in the Supreme Court.

Vahanvati was responding to the CBI lawyer who had insisted that the court should ensure financial and functional autonomy for the agency.

On Monday, the agency had cited instances in which the department of personnel and training (DoPT) had delayed approvals for laptops and mobile for months and years. It said the CBI director should be given the status of a secretary reporting directly to the minister and bypassing the bureaucracy. CBI comes under the DoPT. The exchange prompted Justice Lodha to wonder whether the CBI was in "suspended animation".