CBI should be freed from Govt's administrative shackles: Madras HC

Chennai: The Madras High Court said that the CBI should be an autonomous body that is only accountable to Parliament. The court recounted that the Central Bureau of Investigation should have autonomy as that of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The court called the order with 12 instructions as an attempt to release the "caged parrot" (CBI), reported NDTV. The Supreme Court dubbed the CBI as a caged parrot back in 2013 during a hearing of the Coalfield allocation cases.

The Madras Court said that the autonomy of an agency should be ensured when it is given statutory status. It added that the Centre should make CBI independent with functional autonomy without administrative control of the Government.

Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice B Pugalendhi were hearing a plea seeking a CBI probe into an alleged ponzi scam in Tamil Nadu to the tune of ₹ 300 crores. The bench said that the CBI shall be made more independent like the Election Commission of India and Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The bench was responding to the Centre's opposition to the transfer of the ponzi scam case on grounds of its lack of manpower. The court ordered the Centre to "decide on the comprehensive proposal for cadre review and restructuring of CBI within one month".

Madras HC said that the Government of India is directed to consider and make a decision for the enactment of a separate Act giving statutory status with more powers and jurisdiction to CBI at the earliest, reported NDTV.

The judgment further read that the Director of the CBI shall be given powers as that of the Secretary to the Government. It added that the agency should directly report to the Minister/Prime Minister without going through DoPT.

The opposition has accused the CBI of becoming the political tool of the BJP-led Central government in recent times. Since the BJP became the ruling party, the CBI has been carrying out investigations against many opposition leaders which earned the agency a reputation of catering to BJP demands.

Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has called the agency the "Conspiracy Bureau of Investigation controlled by the Prime Minister". In 2013, BJP, the then-opposition party, had accused the CBI of being controlled by the Congress-led government.

The CBI was formed in 1941 and reports to DoPT (the Department of Personnel and Training) under the Prime Minister's Office. The director of CBI is chosen by a three-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India, and the Leader of the Opposition.