The price of indiscretion

Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami’s removal from office will help keep the Central Bureau of Investigation autonomous and independent

Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami’s removal from office is a bold move by the government and will be welcomed by all those who stand for an independent Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — one that is allowed to discharge its functions freely and fearlessly. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh deserve to be complimented for their swift decision. From all accounts, the act was not capricious; they chose to probe deeply into allegations that were swirling around in the New Delhi circles over the past few days before sacking Mr. Goswami. It is believed that the CBI Director produced enough material evidence to prove the impropriety of the Home Secretary in trying to stall the arrest of former Union Minister Matang Sinh in connection with the Saradha Scam. Mr. Sinh was widely known to be influential, even after the United Progressive Alliance government lost power at the Centre. This time, however, he ran out of luck while trying to intimidate the CBI. Mr. Goswami and Mr. Sinh are said to have known each other for several years. Obviously Mr. Sinh had called the Home Secretary to save himself the embarrassment of an arrest by the CBI, and it is likely that their conversation was recorded.

Unmitigated impropriety

Thereafter the facts become slightly fuzzy. The rumours on the grapevine are that Mr. Goswami called some senior CBI officers (probably not the Director himself) to plead his friend’s case. The officers spoken to by the Home Secretary thereafter conveyed this to the Director, who in turn promptly brought the whole episode to the notice of the Home Minister and the Prime Minister. It is still not known whether the Home Secretary acted on his own after knowing that his friend was in distress or he was a mere conduit through which some political bigwig — now not in power — was trying to save Mr. Sinh. The truth may never come out. In any case this was unmitigated impropriety on the part of a very senior civil servant who is culpable to the core.

“The CBI has become stronger with the knowledge that no one will dare to dictate terms to it in future”

Mind you, the charges against Mr. Sinh were not ordinary. He was being probed for serious criminal misconduct which merited an arrest and a custodial interrogation. It was for the CBI to make up its mind on this, and whatever it did was to be reviewed only by the courts and not by anyone else, including the executive. I am happy that the government lost no time in acting as it did.

In my view, Mr. Goswami’s indiscretion (to put it mildly) was both artless and unethical. He has justifiably paid a heavy price. The episode sends the right signal to both senior officers and non-officials in high places that they will come to grief if they ever try to deflect serious criminal investigations undertaken by the country’s highest law enforcement agency. I laud the current CBI Director for having brought the facts to the government’s notice. The normal tendency would have been to suppress such interference in CBI matters, especially when the person meddling is either a Minister or a senior civil servant.

Not many may know that the Home Secretary is a powerful entity in the capital and can play with the careers of senior police officers. Many senior officers genuflect before him for routine favours. It is true that many in Mr. Goswami’s position in the past had been great leaders and men of the highest integrity. But it is equally true that there have been a few aberrations — there have been erratic and egoistic officers who have abused their proximity to centres of power only to promote the cause of some favoured unscrupulous policemen, while at the same time destroying the careers of the not-so-unbending.

My own experience was not very pleasant; I had to deal with someone who chose to flout even what the Home Minister had granted the CBI by way of infrastructure support. I presumed he had a hang-up as far as the CBI was concerned, and he had to constantly settle scores with the organisation by denying it the support it required. We need a powerful Home Minister, both knowledgeable and plodding, and who will hold the Home Secretary to account, as Mr. Singh has done.

Not many know that the CBI is part of the Department of Personnel and Training which works under the Prime Minister. The Home Ministry is mainly a facilitator which lends support to the CBI in the form of manpower, especially by providing Indian Police Service officers borrowed from various States. Otherwise it has no authority over the CBI, especially in matters of anti-corruption work. (With respect to conventional crimes, the Ministry transfers cases received at the instance of States to the CBI or the National Investigation Agency for investigation.)

The CBI Director’s administrative head is the Prime Minister and no one else. (This is a legacy of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who brought the agency under her control after moving it out of the Home Ministry. The objective was not exactly honourable.) That the Prime Minister is the controller deters many Ministers and civil servants from interfering in the agency’s investigations. If the CBI Director keeps the Home Minster informed of certain broad developments, it is purely as a matter of courtesy and certainly not as mandated by business rules. In my opinion, this is how it should be to avoid differing signals from being sent to the CBI.

Need for introspection
The CBI undoubtedly emerges credible from the unseemly episode. It has also become stronger with the knowledge that no one will dare to dictate terms to it in future. It is exactly this situation that calls for serious introspection on the part of the CBI leadership as to whether it deserves this majesty in the bureaucracy. CBI critics — there are far too many — would say that the organisation does not merit this kind of power or influence. The CBI Director and his top leadership have, therefore, a huge responsibility to ensure that their investigators do not run amuck. This is especially with regard to arrests of accused or suspects. The authority is enormous. It has to be exercised humanely, and with great care and caution. A hasty and unjustified arrest brings in more ignominy to an agency, especially at a time when it has suffered a leadership crisis. Two of its chiefs are under a cloud, and it is not known how the government is going to deal with them.

The cliché “Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion’ comes readily to my mind. Internal vigilance should be the watchword. Any failure on the part of the Director or his lieutenants to insist on the highest standards of integrity for themselves and for their ranks will be unpardonable. The loser from the CBI’s sloth and connivance with the corrupt will ultimately be the aam aadmi.