M.Kaiser
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is a premier investigating agency in India. This elite force plays a major role in investigating cases which are essentially against Central Government or big cases of fraud and embezzlement, these cases are sensitive and of national importance. Since, the CBI handles many high-profile cases; it is never far from controversy. The CBI has come under severe criticism for its mishandling of several scams. The famous cases which were investigated or are investigated by CBI include Bhopal gas tragedy, Bofors scandal, 2G Spectrum Scam and latest Indian coal allocation scam. In all these cases there are allegations about mishandling and CBI has been criticised by several quarters. Recently, the Supreme Court has stressed upon making CBI more independent and free from different interferences. The court had said that all investigations carried by CBI must be uninfluenced by any extraneous force. After these scathing remarks by the apex Court, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM), to draft a legislation that will seek to shield the investigating agency from any political or any other external influence. Besides ensuring full insulation of CBI, supporters of RTI Act are strongly advocating for bringing this agency under provisions of RTI. The CBI is exempted from the purview of Right to Information Act. On the basis that CBI handles cases related to national security. However, this move was criticised by Central Information Commission as well as various RTI activists saying this blanket exemption is not in the letter and spirit of RTI Act. At the time when Supreme Court has already suggested for liberation of CBI from interferences, the hopes remain high regarding the proper functioning of this agency. Moreover, it is important for UPA government to ensure insulation of CBI because the government`s image is already tainted due to surfacing of number of scams.