‘Release caged parrot’: Madras HC asks Centre to make CBI autonomous

Wednesday, 18 August 2021Newsdesk

Issuing a slew of directions to improve the functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday observed that the agency should be made an independent statutory body like the Election Commission or Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Bar & Bench reported. Recommending that the CBI should only be accountable to Parliament, a two-judge bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and B Pugalendhi said: “This order is an attempt to release the “Caged Parrot (CBI).”

New Delhi, 18 August 2021

As per news report of The Indian Express, The Supreme Court had also described the agency as a “caged parrot” during a hearing of the Coalfield allocation cases in 2013. “When such is the trust and faith of the people, very sadly CBI is dragging its feet, whenever there is a demand for CBI enquiry on the ground that resources and manpower available with CBI are very restricted and therefore, it cannot conduct investigations. This is the usual stereotype version/defence of the CBI before the Courts”, the High Court stated, Bar & Bench reported. The court was hearing a PIL seeking CBI inquiry in an alleged chit fund scam. While the Court declined to transfer the case to the CBI earlier, given that an investigation by the Economics Wing was already underway, the bench decided to examine larger issues concerning the “necessity to have more resources and more personnel including modern infrastructures for CBI.”

Source -indianexpress.com