Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi, January 09: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) welcoming the Supreme Court decision reinstating Alok Verma as CBI director today demanded the transparent and honest functional autonomy of the premier investigation agency should be effectively restored and there should not be any political mingling in its functioning. The LGP said the working of the agency as “caged parrot†has already done immense damage to its credibility.
The spokesman of the party said here on Wednesday that the political interference and intermingling to serve vested interest of ruling party in the functioning of the CBI should be stopped and this will be possible only when the agency will have impartial workforce and not politically motivated police officers drawn from various states. The spokesman said no doubt the apex court has struck a blow in favour of the agency by setting aside the central vigilance commission’s order divesting Verma of his charge as the head of the agency. However the spokesman laid emphasis on protection of integrity of the institution by providing the agency operational autonomy within the ambit of law which is critical to the honest and transparent success of the agency. The apex court has directed the high-powered committee consisting of Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India to consider the entire matter and reach a decision on restoring the director’s power within a week, the spokesman said and added hopefully it would bring back functional normalcy in the institution. The spokesman said an acceptable way out should be found to insulate the CBI from extraneous influence which is in national interest as almost all political parties have accused the agency of being the government’s handmaiden.
However the spokesman made it clear that Director CBI is an IPS officer, who is governed by the conduct rules and other relevant provisions of law. Thus in the name of autonomy the agency cannot demand freedom from any kind of public scrutiny. The spokesman said 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 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.
