New Delhi, November 11
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today categorically said the Central Bureau of Investigation must function under the government while drawing a line for the agency saying it was “not appropriate” for it to sit in judgement over policy matters when there is nothing mala fide.

The Prime Minister, while speaking at a CBI-organised International Conference on “Evolving Common Strategies to Combat Corruption and Crime” here today, further said the agency was part of the Department of Personnel and Training and Prime Ministers traditionally headed the ministry.

The CBI is currently probing the coal block allocations case with some of the allocations taking place during the period when the Prime Minister was heading the ministry. Addressing concerns of the bureaucracy on how CBI’s probes were leading to a policy paralysis and fears, Singh said “public servants may not be paralysed in taking effective decisions based on their sound judgement and on the apprehension of an ill-informed inquiry or investigation”.

“It is also important that errors of judgement are distinguished from criminal acts. The fear of the unknown must not lead to paralysis in decision making,” the Prime Minister advised the CBI. Singh rejected demands for removing the CBI from the existing arrangement of government control, saying “the police and investigation agencies are a part of the executive and must function under its administrative supervision”.

“Autonomy in investigation is already guaranteed. If anything more needs to be done to further insulate the investigative process from external interference, we must not hesitate to do it,” he said.

His words were in line with the Union Government’s affidavit in the Supreme Court in July this year. It had promised the CBI functional autonomy and the appointment of its Director and other officers by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India or a judge nominated by him. The BJP has been critical of keeping the CBI under government control.

Explaining his stand, the Prime Minister said the debate on autonomy for the CBI should not lose sight of the fact that the CBI and other investigating agencies were part of the executive.

“We should be able to clearly distinguish between operational autonomy and the rules of oversight, supervision and control in organisational and institutional matters that are normal for public bodies of the executive funded by public money”, he said.