New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday, saying it has not been able to meet the standards of judicial scrutiny in a number of high-profile and politically sensitive cases.
Gogoi said though such lapses may not have happened frequently, such instances reflect “systemic issues and indicate a deep mismatch between institutional aspirations, organisational design, working culture and governing politics”.
The CJI made the remarks while delivering the key note address at the D.P. Kohli Memorial Lecture, organised annually by the CBI in memory of its founder-director, D.P. Kohli, who headed the investigating agency from 1955 to 1968.
CBI has ‘weak human resource’
Gogoi said that “weak human resource” in the agency is a major concern. “The gap is both qualitative and quantitative,” he added.
The CJI said that 15 per cent posts in the executive department, 28.37 per cent in law officers’ department and 56.17 per cent in technical officers’ department are lying vacant in the agency.
“This is a matter of concern as it results in overburdening of work, which not only reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the agency personnel, but also induces psychological distress,” he said.
Gogoi said inadequate investment in the force is also a major issue.
“Inadequate investment in personnel training, equipment or other support structures adversely hampers professional discharge of duties. High-quality research and training are crucial for maintaining an effective modern police force,” he said.
The CJI also said there is a need to maintain the morale of the force by enforcing stringent internal accountability, concerning all aspects of the working of the institution — decision-making, procedure adopted, finance and performance evaluation.
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‘Dire need for systematised training of officers’
The CJI said that whenever there are no political overtones in a case, the CBI does a good job. But given that the control of the agency continues to lie with the executive, to a large extent, the possibility of it being used as a political instrument remains ever-present, he said.
Gogoi said that all these concerns have the potential to adversely dent the autonomy of the police force. The roadmap for the future, he said, must be forward looking, focussing on critical areas such as technological upgrade, capacity building, infrastructure augmentation and organisational autonomy.
“New-age crimes require new-age responses. The CBI needs to be knowledge- and technology-driven. There is a dire need for systematised training for investigating officers in scientific methods of investigation,” he said.
Since an increased number of cases pertaining to diverse areas like internal security, cybercrimes, corruption, financial irregularities are now being handled by the CBI, vacancies in crucial positions is likely to adversely impact the performance of the agency, he added.
“Proactive steps, therefore, must be taken to fill up the vacancies, simplify the service rules, reduce procedural bottlenecks afflicting recruitment and make deputation to CBI more rewarding,” Gogoi said.
Give CBI statutory status through legislation, says CJI
Stating that efforts must be made to delink crucial aspects of the CBI from the overall administrative control of the government, Gogoi said the agency should be given statutory status through legislation equivalent to the one provided to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
“The legal mandate of CBI must be strengthened by having a comprehensive legislation addressing deficiencies relating to organisational structure, charter of functions, limits of power, superintendence and oversight,” he said.
“Further, to address an increasing incidence of interstate crimes, an argument could be made for including ‘public order’ in concurrent list for the limited purposes of investigating such crimes,” he added.
Gogoi also said that the agency be given financial autonomy. “Administrative autonomy without financial autonomy makes for a toothless tiger,” he asserted.
Also read: ‘CBI needs greater autonomy to be more effective’: Read full text of CJI Ranjan Gogoi’s speech