Dirty tricks dept: We should listen to Gopalkrishna Gandhi on CBI

“The CBI has a very mixed image. Not all of it is flattering. It is seen as a government’s hatchet, rather than honesty’ s ally. It is often called DDT… not the colourless, tasteless, odourless insecticide it should be, but the Department of Dirty Tricks. Former West Bengal Governor Gopal Gandhi delivering the DP Kohli Memorial lecture (15 April, 2014) at CBI Headquarters. Harsh words indeed from a gentle, benign and graceful public figure whose sky high credibility is something for many of us to envy. When he expresses a strong sentiment in public, there is reason we should not ignore him but sit up and listen. Gopal — ‘Gopu’, as he is affectionately known to many of us — has lit up Chennai’s social milieu in the past few years. We are thankful for this to an ever-suspecting Executive for sending him into temporary exile from public office. Few governments want an outspoken functionary even in titular assignments. Gopal was a surprise choice therefore to deliver the annual talk at the CBI, an event that most of the top brass in the civil services in Delhi look forward to keenly. [caption id=“attachment_1482905” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Gopalkrishna Gandhi. AFP[/caption] I can hear cynics say that the CBI seldom picks right targets. But this time they are wrong. Gopal is exactly the kind of personality who was needed for conveying some harsh truths to an organisation that has had its ups and downs, perhaps more of the latter. I am told the CBI gathering on the occasion took the speaker seriously and lauded him for his no-holds-barred talk. One thought here. Why should the Kohli Memorial talk remain the preserve of the Delhi elite? Why can’t it rotate among the other cities so that discerning members of the public are directly exposed to new ideas on the CBI, rather than read staid newspaper accounts of them. Gopal correctly identifies two major themes relating to the CBI that generally cause anguish to the civil service as well as to the common man who demands total probity in the highest investigation agency in the country. The debate over the need to insulate the CBI from political caprice has never been more germane to public life, which has been battered by scandals of mega proportions coming one after the other at an alarming frequency. The Supreme Court of India is extremely sensitive to this need. It has done everything possible to insulate the agency from unethical directions from a dishonest Executive. Right from the Hawala episode of the 1990s to the more recent Coalgate scam, when the CBI was asked to keep off from a prying political hierarchy that had been caught pants down, the Apex Court has made it clear to the organisation that it would come to grief if it ever tried to protect those in high places who did not deserve protection. Court-monitored investigations are more frequent than before, and they have paid dividends. Even under such a controlled situation however we saw how a Union Minister meddled with a progress report that was being submitted to the Apex Court. This highlighted the fact that a Supreme Court supervision is no panacea for the frailties of the CBI and its willingness to succumb to governmental pressure. It is therefore my firm belief that the CBI can remain only as independent as its Director and rest of the top leadership want it to be. Cynical as it may seem, homilies to that organisation to behave itself have, unfortunately, only a limited and short-term impact. Gopal’s exhortation in favour of personal probity to CBI officers is unexceptionable. It is not only the political neutrality of the CBI that has been questioned. Complaints of financial impropriety have also surfaced from time to time. I will not exaggerate the incidence of corruption within CBI ranks. Possibly they are few and far between. Nevertheless, even an iota of dishonesty in an organisation which should be squeaky clean is a matter of concern. Another unwelcome and serious phenomenon is the offer of post-retirement jobs to retiring CBI officers, including the Director. Nothing worse can happen to erode the CBI’s independence. Gopal’s specific reference to this unwholesome practice is timely. If need be the Apex Court should intervene to put an end to this. Or else we will continue to have a pliant leadership that is willing to compromise its integrity under the lure of a Lutyen’s bungalow and all the perks that go with it. *The writer is a former CBI Director.