Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi , December 7: Lok Gathbandhan Party today said that Director CBI is an IPS officer who is governed by conduct rules and other relevant provisions of law . The spokesman of the party said here on Friday that the CBI chief being a public servant has the protection available to him under the Article 311 of the Constitution of India which gives power to the appointing authority to take action against the erring officer after following the procedure laid down in law. The spokesman said that Alok Verma is still an IPS officer so he can be proceeded against only by the appointing authority, which is Government of India in this case, and by nobody else like the three-member committee headed by Prime Minister. The spokesman said that CBI has to be accountable to the government and cannot be above law and cannot demand freedom from any kind of public scrutiny. The autonomy of any institution is limited to performing the tasks impartially and honestly and that does not mean that the organisation can act arbitrarily or against public interest, the spokesman pointed out.
The spokesman further said that CBI has the same kind of autonomy of action as any police officer has, working in a police station, because both are governed by the same provisions of Criminal Procedure Code. The spokesman wondered how can any organisation funded by public money could demand complete autonomy like protection from disciplinary action and overall supervision by the government elected by people. The spokesman said that freedom to act impartially and with honestly should be available to every government functionary and that should not be available only to CBI as is being argued by many in the present CBI vs CBI episode being played out in the Supreme Court.
The spokesman said that it is sad commentary on the state of governance in our country that there is wide spread corruption everywhere and people have to pay bribe to get their rightful due. Political interference in every aspect of administration is the norm that is why there is growing demand for autonomy by many organisations . The spokesman said that granting immunity or protection to some organisations or functionaries is not going to help the situation. What we need is an honest political system and honest governments which allow the system to work as per law and not interfere in their working till such time they act in public interest . But governments cannot be divested of the powers granted to them by constitution to supervise and monitor the working of institutions funded by taxpayers money including the CBI .
