Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

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Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

  • Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the main investigation agency of the central government for cases relating to (multidisciplinary cases)
    • Corruption
    • Economic offences
    • Major criminal probes.
  • Superintendence of CBI rests with
    • Central Vigilance Commission  in corruption cases
    • Department of personnel and training (DoPT) in other matters.
THE CBI'S STRUCTURE Prirne Minister's Office Department Of Personnel & Training Central Vigilence Cornrnission Superintendence Of CBI rests vvith in corruption cases and Department of personnel and training ( OOP T) in other rnatters Economic Offences Division CBI DIRECTOR s Anti— Division Spec ia I Division
  • Takes up investigation of conventional crimes like murder, kidnapping , rape etc on request from state government
  • Supreme Court and High Court can order Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate such a crime anywhere in the country without the consent of the State.
  • CBI also acts as National Central Bureau of Interpol
  • CBI derives powers from the provisions of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPE) , 1941 . CBI was set up by a resolution of Ministry of Home Affairs 1963 after Santhanam committee recommendation.
  • Although DSPE Act gives legal power to CBI, 1946 , it is not a statutory body as (written in Laxmikant too)
    • Word ‘CBI’ is not mentioned in DSPE act.
    • Executive order of Ministry of Home Affairs did not mention CBI to be constituted under DSPE Act.

Divisions of CBI

CBI has following divisions

  1. Anti Corruption Division
  2. Economic Offences Division
  3. Special Crimes Division
  4. Policy and International Police Cooperation Division
  5. Administration Division
  6. Directorate of Persecution
  7. Central Forensic Science Laboratory

Issues with CBI

  1. It is not a statutory body and its powers are derived from DSPE Act, 1941
  2. Earlier Supreme Court (Justice Lodha) in Coal Scam Case has termed CBI as a caged parrot with many masters on account of political interference in CBI’s functioning. These masters are
    • a. Ministry of Home Affairs : Controls Cadre Management  . If officer doesn’t work according to wishes of Government, he is transferred . 
    • b. Central Vigilance Commission  : While doing investigation of offences under Prevention of Corruption Act , CBI functions under Central Vigilance Commission
    • c. Department of Personnel and Training  : Training & Finances controlled by it
  3. Plays partisan role : Eg –
    • Clean chit to Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 riots case and various Commissions like Nanavati Commission commented on the partisan role played by CBI in that  
    • Failure to appeal on the Babri Masjid case
  4. CBI does not have its own cadre and is run by officers on deputation 
  5. Overlapping jurisdictions: There is an overlap in jurisdictions of CVC, CBI and Lokpal in certain cases leading to problems.
  6. Lack of Transparency: CBI is exempt from the provisions of the RTI Act of 2005

Fodder : 2019 case of CBI versus CBI infighting between CBI director (Alok Verma) vs his deputy (Rakesh Asthana) questioned the independence of independence of CBI . Timeline of what happened is as follows.

CBI vs CBI The events leading up to micfiight cfvestnwtt Of Of CBI Dir«tor Alok Kumar Verma and Scmal Director Rakesh Asthana and the subsemmt battle: 2016: IPS offcer Rakesh Asthana appointed Additional Director of Dec. 3: Asthana made interim CBI Director as Director Anil Sinha retires Jan. 19.2017: Alok Verma appointed CBI Director tot a tenwe of two years 22: Asthana appointed SR. cial Chrector Nov. 2: Adv«ate Prashant Bhushan Supreme Court on behalf Of Cornmon Cause. an NGO. challeng•ng Asthana•s appointrnent 23: Late in the night. DOPT divests Verma Of all his Statutory Obbqations. appoints M. Nageswara Rao interim CBI Director Nov. 28: Court dismisses the '*tition My 12.2018: While verma was the Central Vigilarxe Comrmssion (CVC) calls a n.eting to discuss p. cymtnns. Rks to know Who will attend it. The CBI that Asthana has rx) rnandate to revesent Oct. CBI lodges an FIR with bribery aganst Asthana, Deputy Superin• tendent of Police t»vender Kumar, Dubai investment banker Manoj Prasad and his brother Sorr—h Prasad Oct. 16: The CBI arrests Mano Prasad (Xt. 20. The CBI raids tkven&r Kumar's residence and omce at its headquarters. says mobile phores and iPads seized 24: Verma the Supreme Court 25: Comnu1 cause files a PIL crtition. seekir" a Sßcial Investigation Team probe into alle- gations of corruption against CBI othaals. irrtudit» Asthana Oct. 26: COIrt directs CVC to complete inquiry into a cornplaint Verma in two weeks. re• sponse of the CVC the Centre on Verrna•s plea the governrrmt Nov. 12: The CVC htes a prelirninary probe report in a seal«i cover in the Supreme Court NOV. 29: Verna tells Supreme Court that his fixed tenure of two years cannot be alter«i Dec. •S: between two CBI officers exposed the probe agency to ridicule, ttw Centre tells the court Jan. 8.2019' cart Ovesti" Vemu of his powers .nd hen on •ave. restrains him from taking

Steps already taken to improve working of CBI

1 . Supreme Court in Vineet Narain case has suggested reforms for making CBI independent (these provisions were added in Section 4B of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act in accordance with that )

  • Supreme Court ruled that the Director of the CBI should be appointed and transferred on the recommendations of a committee of
    1. Prime Minister
    2. Leader of Opposition
    3. Chief Justice of India
  • Director shall have a minimum tenure of two years, and in extra-ordinary situation,  premature transfer should have the approval of the Selection Committee which appointed it.

2 . CBI has been exempted from consultation with UPSC for recruitment to the post of DSP for a period of 3 years in 2017.

3. Advanced Certified Course for CBI officers to enhance their investigation skills, from National Law School of India University and IIM Bangalore.

4. Various schemes for Modernization of training centers in CBI

More steps required

  • Central Bureau of Investigation should be under Lokpal . Amendments should be made accordingly as originally envisaged in Lokpal Bill.
  • Make a separate law to make CBI a statutory body as suggested by 2nd ARC & Parliamentary Committees , thus giving it more autonomy to function and reducing political interference.
  • CBI should develop its own cadre of officers who are not hindered by deputation issues and abrupt transfers.

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