29.6.13

Of autonomy for the CBI....

The cabinet has accepted the recommendations of a ministerial group enhancing CBI’s autonomy through a collegium system to appoint the agency’s director and instituting an oversight panel to ensure impartiality of investigations.
The collegium will comprise the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, besides the Prime Minister and the chief justice of India, a move that dilutes the monopoly of the government in the appointment process for the sensitive post of CBI director.
The collegium is similar to that proposed in the Lokpal bill that is yet to be legislated.
The oversight panel, expected to act as a referee, will comprise three retired judges. The panel is intended to be a check on political interference in the CBI’s functioning, a charge often leveled by the opposition.
The measures accepted by the cabinet should address several concerns raised by the opposition and will be part of the government’s response to the Supreme Court due to be filed on July 6.
The court had asked the government to explain what it would do to ensure that the CBI’s functioning is insulated from the political executive in the wake of a heated controversy over former law minister Ashwani Kumar vetting an agency report on Coalgate.

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