INVESTIGATION AGENCIES

INVESTIGATION AGENCIES 

Recently, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) called for creating an “independent umbrella institution” to bring various investigating agencies like Central Bureau Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under one roof.

Need for bringing various investigative agencies under one roof

1. Administrative
   • Delay in trials: Lack of public prosecutors and standing counsels, seeking adjournments, and filing voluminous documents in pending trials, undue imprisonment of undertrials, cherry-picking of the evidence, and repeated transfers of officers leading to delays in the investigation.
   • General consent: When a general consent is withdrawn by several states like Mizoram, West Bengal, Maharashtra, etc.
   • Multiple agencies: Single incident investigated by multiple agencies, often leading to dilution of evidence, a contradiction in depositions, overlapping of powers and prolonged incarceration of innocents.
   • Inadequate infrastructure: National Investigation Agency (NIA) is a nodal counter-terror body but is still lacking infrastructure, manpower and a fleet of vehicles to conduct investigations and quick mobilization.
   • Acute shortage of personnel: Due to mismanagement of CBI’s workforce, through a system of inefficient, and inexplicably biased, recruitment policies which bring in favoured officers, possibly to the detriment of the organisation.
   • Restricted access: Prior approval of Central Government to conduct inquiry or investigation on the employees of the Central Government, of the level of Joint Secretary and above is a big obstacle in combating corruption at higher levels of bureaucracy.
   • End multiplicity of proceedings: A single incident gets investigated by multiple agencies, often leading to dilution of evidence, contradiction in depositions, prolonged incarceration of innocents.
2. Governance
   • Falling credibility: Image of investigative agencies like CBI, ED and SFIO has been tarnished by allegations of corruption, excesses, lack of impartiality, and nexus with the political class.
     • Example: Bofors scandal, Hawala scandal.
   • Overlapping investigations: A single incident these days gets investigated by multiple agencies, often leading to dilution of evidence, contradiction in depositions, prolonged incarceration of innocents.
   • Lack of administrative autonomy: CBI needs to seek case-wise consent from the concerned state for investigation without which officers would lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state.
     • Example: Section 6 of DSPE Act empowers state government to give or deny consent to CBI officer.
   • Lack of transparency: CBI denied information, claiming exemption under section 24 of Right to Information Act, thus, hampering public accountability.
   • Ensure collaboration: The umbrella body will ensure a harmonious relationship between the state and central agencies, given that the goal of all those organisations was to secure justice.
   • Lack of autonomy: Agencies like CBI is administratively and financially dependent on the Department of Personnel and Training and lacks functional autonomy.
3. Political
   • Political interference: The Supreme Court of India has criticised the CBI by calling it a “caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice,” due to excessive political interference in its functioning.
   • Affects federal principles: Central government decision of entrusting the pan India investigation of offences to any agency without the consent of the state government violates the constitution as public order and policing are matters of the state government.
     • Example: UAPA when added to the schedule of the NIA Act, the agency is given pan India jurisdiction to investigate offences covered under the Act.
   • Lack of statutory backing: An important federal agency in India like CBI doesn’t have statutory backing for its existence. It derives its powers from Delhi Police Establishment Act.
   • Uphold democratic values: The police and the probe agencies need to function within the democratic framework as prescribed under the Constitution. Any deviation will hurt the institutions and will weaken our democracy.

Way Forward

1. Umbrella organisation
   • Improves coordination: It is required to bring various agencies under one roof to improve coordination, resources, and intelligence sharing along with clearly defining its powers, functions, and jurisdictions.
   • Terminating the political nexus: It will save the investigative agencies from being blamed as a tool of harassment and end multiplicity of agencies.
   • Functional separation: According to the CJI, one additional in-built safeguard is to have separate and autonomous wings for prosecution and investigation, to ensure total independence.
   • Performance audit: Annual audit of the performance of the institution by the appointing committee to address loopholes and improve efficiency of investigative agencies.
   • Independent head: The proposed umbrella body should be headed by an independent and impartial authority, appointed by a committee akin to the one which appointed the CBI Director. Its head could be assisted by deputies having specialisation in different domains.
   • Statutory backing: The body should be created under a statute, clearly defining its powers, functions, and jurisdictions.
   • Standard operative procedures: Once an incident is reported, the organisation should decide as to which specialised wing should take up the investigation.
   • Replication by states: Since police and public order fall under the State list, State agencies must be equipped to deal with increasing challenges in the field of investigation. The proposed Central law for the umbrella investigative body can be suitably replicated by the States.
2. Regulatory
   • Regular upgradation: There is a need for regular upgradation of knowledge, deployment of state-of-the-art technology, and international exchange programmes to learn the best practices.
     • Example: State agencies must be equipped to deal with increasing challenges in the field of investigation.
   • Value-based functioning: It is essential that all institutions, including police and investigative bodies, uphold and strengthen democratic values and not allow any authoritarian tendencies to creep in.
3. Administrative
   • Coordination at federal level: There should be a harmonious relationship and collaboration between the State and Central agencies to reclaim social legitimacy and public trust by breaking the nexus with the political executive.
   • Criminal Justice System reforms: There is need to implement long overdue Police Reforms and deal with huge pendency of cases.
   • Autonomy: The agency should be made independent with functional autonomy without the administrative control of government. Its director should be given power of the Secretary to the government and should report to the Prime Minister or the Minister concerned.
4. Social
   • Women participation: There is need for more women’s representation in the policing system so that women victims feel confident to approach and report crimes.
   • Bringing social legitimacy: The need of the hour is to reclaim social legitimacy and public trust and the first step to gain the same is to break the nexus with the political executive.
   • Fixing the relations between the community and police: This can be done by including sensitisation workshops, and interactions with the public to inspire public confidence during the police training modules.

One of the demands that has been before the Supreme Court, and in line with international best practices, is for these agencies including CBI to develop its own dedicated cadre of officers who are not bothered about deputation and abrupt transfers. A more efficient parliamentary oversight over the federal criminal and intelligence agencies could be a way forward to ensure better accountability, despite concerns regarding political misuse of the oversight which can be implemented via establishing an umbrella organisation.