Chidu leads the charge

Denying that CBI was a caged parrot or a Congress puppet, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has rebuked the agency along with national auditor CAG for overstepping limits and converting genuine Executive decisions into criminal acts, continuing UPA’s counter-attack at institutions whose actions and criticisms, it believes, have marred its second term. A day after the prime minister ticked off CBI for sitting in judgement on government policy making, Chidambaram piled on the pressure as he urged investigating agencies to “not question” the wisdom of a government policy or offer unsolicited advice on alternate policies.
The finance minister said an investigating agency “must confine itself” to the question whether there has been a violation of a laid-down rule of conduct. “Unfortunately, there are a number of cases where investigating agencies, and other authorities like CAG, have overstepped their limits and attempted to convert bona fide Executive decisions into either crimes or abuse of authority… I would caution investigating agencies to respect the line that divides policy making and policing,” he said.
“If there is no prescribed rule, or if there is no violation of a prescribed rule, there is no offence. It is not the business of the investigating agency to lay down a rule of conduct; nor is it the business of the investigating agency to presume a rule of conduct,” Chidambaram said.