Context

The Chief Justice of India (CJI), Justice N.V. Ramana, while delivering the annual (and the 19th edition) D.P. Kohli Memorial Talk minced no words in condemning the utter subordination of agencies to the executive and its disastrous consequences for the cause of justice.

Key takeaways

• Resisting the pressure: The CJI called upon investigators to stand up to unethical pressures in order not to betray the trust reposed in them by the public.
• Strong court: We need a strong Supreme Court and equally strong High Courts to keep our investigators on the straight and narrow path.
•  Fixed tenure: Earlier, CBI Directors were changed at will.
•  Mandatory tenure was meant to insulate the CBI Director from the caprice of the executive.
• This process has since been expanded to include the CJI in the selection panel.
• Strong leadership: The CBI now has some of the brightest Indian Police Service officers in its higher echelons.
• However, it is not enough if the middle-rung supervisors alone are straightforward.

Should there be an umbrella organisation?

• The CJI had proposed an umbrella organisation that will oversee all investigating agencies.
• This idea was meant to avoid having multiple agencies looking into the same set of allegations.
• Apart from its impracticality, such a novel body could generate its own problems — of turf wars and ego clashes.

Way forward

• There is a need to focus on weeding out the dishonest among officers and rewarding those who have shown and proven themselves to be honest and professionally innovative.

Conclusion

There needs to be a strong and virtuous leader who will not only be honest but also stick his neck out to protect his deputies if and when confronted by an unscrupulous political heavyweight.

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