CBI Chief welcomes moves to free agency from external influence

New Delhi: As a high-powered Group of Ministers (GoM) gets down to work on how to free the CBI from external influence, the agency’s Director Ranjit Sinha cautioned that such welcome moves should go hand-in-hand with steps to ensure that it does not become a “rogue organisation”. [caption id=“attachment_785291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ranjit Sinha. PIB image[/caption] Sinha welcomed the Supreme Court’s directive to the Union Government to come out with a legislation by 10 July to insulate the CBI from “external influence”. It would do a lot of good if there is no interference in investigations conducted by the agency, he told PTI in an interview in New Delhi. But he has a word of caution – “in a democratic set up, no organisation can be made totally independent as it entails the risk of turning into a rogue organization.” Sinha, who will give his inputs to the GoM headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, listed options to insulate the CBI from external interefrence – superintendence by Parliament or Central Vigilance Commission(CVC) or the National Human Rights Commission(NHRC), any of which could oversee the functioning of the agency. “It will be well for the organisation if it is accredited to a body which will oversee its functioning but at the same time not interfere in its criminal investigation. We can have a look at functioning of such organisations in some of the western democracies. We can adopt any such model,” he said without referring to any country or organisation. On being asked what should be done to insulate CBI from external pressure including political interference, Sinha said “it is for the government to decide. We will give our inputs to the body which the government prepares to address the issue. They (Government) have to take a call on the issue.” The apex court had on 6 May asked the government to make an effort to come out with a law before 10 July to insulate CBI from external influence and intrusion. A bench headed by Justice R M Lodha had said, “We would like the law to be in place before the next date of hearing on July 10. We know that Parliament will not be in session, but there are ways to do it”. In the wake of this direction, the Government announced a Group of Ministers(GoM) headed by the Finance Minister which will work out a mechanism to insulate the CBI from political interference and draft a law and also an affidavit to be submitted to the Supreme Court. PTI