The Union government should consider enacting legislation to make the CBI an autonomous body to put an end to its “caged parrot” reputation, said the Madurai bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday.
The bench of Justice Kirubakaran and Pugazhendhi was hearing a petition, seeking a CBI inquiry into an alleged Rs 300-crore scam in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. The bench during the hearing observed that the Union government should consider enacting suitable legislation to give a statutory status to the central investigating agency and make it an autonomous body.
The judges also said that the CBI should function like the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and that separate budgetary allocations should be made for CBI just the way it’s done for other departments, said the Madurai bench. This order is an attempt to free the CBI from its reputation of being a “caged parrot”, said the judges during the hearing.
The CBI had received the sobriquet in 2013 when the Supreme Court came down heavily on the probe agency during a hearing on the coal scam case. The apex court had said the CBI had become a “caged parrot” speaking in “its master’s voice”.
“The said observation of the Hon’ble Supreme Court is fortified by the statement made by the CBI director (at the time) before the Hon’ble Supreme Court in coal allocation case that a former law minister meddled with the statement of CBI filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” the bench recalled.
The bench further said that the number of cases seeking the central agency’s investigation is increasing and there lies a necessity to surge the credibility of the agency.
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