NEW DELHI: The man whose PIL led the Supreme Court to lay down a fixed tenure for the CBI director now wants a review of the rule in the light of a raging controversy surrounding Ranjit Sinha, the incumbent chief of the premier investigation agency.
Journalist-turned-activist Vineet Narain has urged the Supreme Court to send Sinha on leave if he fails to resign over the allegations, based on visitors’ list, that he met at his home some people who were under the agency’s probe in various cases.
Narain, whose PIL in the 1993 Jain hawala case prompted the SC to frame rules for CBI’s autonomy, has written to the Chief Justice of India seeking his intervention if Sinha doesn’t resign.
“The recent exposures of CBI director’s unethical meetings with the accused persons and/or their representatives involved in high profile corruption cases have shaken the nation. Under the circumstances, it will be in fitness of things that Sinha should be asked to proceed on leave forthwith and/or on moral grounds, he should resign from his post, so as to enable … a free and fair inquiry,” says the letter.
Narain says, “I have never held CBI in high esteem. My PIL in 1993 in the Jain hawala case was primarily to draw the attention of SC towards the criminal connivance of CBI in high profile corruption cases directly with the persons involved. It is unfortunate that nothing much has changed at the ground level since the Hawala judgment which granted autonomy to CVC & CBI.”
Referring to the fixed tenure scheme laid down by SC on his PIL, Narain says the purpose was to ensure the functional autonomy of the CBI director so that he is not removed if he/she is conducting an investigation in high profile cases involving the members of the government.
“That noble purpose has now taken a back seat, and fixed tenure is being misused as a shield to manipulate the investigations as per the whims of the influential persons. In the light of these developments, it will be worthwhile to review the worthiness of fixed tenure scheme,” the senior journalist explains, requesting the CJI to take suo motu action and “pass appropriate orders in the interest of justice and fair play so as to restore the dignity of the CBI by ensuring that a person with such unethical conduct is not allowed to function any further”.
TOI | Sep 6, 2014
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