In his first comments on the functioning of the CBI since the agency registered an FIR into the decision to let Hindalco access a coal block in Odisha, Singh said, "Autonomy in investigation is already guaranteed. If anything more needs to be done to further insulate the investigative process from external interference, we must not hesitate to do it. But it would be worthwhile to introspect if the debate on autonomy should lose sight of the fact that the CBI and other investigating agencies are part of the executive."
The PM, who has owned up and defended the decision to allow Hindalco to mine Talabira II coal block, also expressed displeasure over details of investigations finding their way into the media, stressing the trend violated the spirit behind the decision to exempt CBI from the Right to Information Act (RTI Act). "What is almost as distressing is that sensitive investigations are increasingly becoming subjects of running media commentary, often on the basis of material that is not otherwise in the public domain," Singh said.
He said the CBI was kept out of RTI's purview for the sake of confidentiality of investigations. "I hope that, as responsible professionals, you will be able to reflect on this issue in the correct perspective," Singh said while addressing a gathering of the country's police brass, around 1,000 officers belonging to the CBI, representatives of state investigating agencies as well as investigators from 19 foreign countries.
Singh asked agencies to differentiate errors of judgment from criminal acts and said that they should not sit in judgment on policy making. "It is also important that errors of judgment are distinguished from criminal acts," he said, while highlighting the risk of bureaucratic paralysis because of the fear of prosecution.
Arguing that decision-making in a world of uncertainty was a risky operation, the PM said, "Some decisions which appear sensible ex-ante may ex-post turn out to be faulty. Our administrative set up has to be so managed that that the fear of the unknown must not lead to paralysis in decision making."
The remark appeared significant in view of the widespread perception that the CBI's FIR against former coal secretary P C Parakh who has a reputation for honesty, may deter officials from taking decisions.
Continuing in the same vein, Singh said, "Policy-making is a multi-layered and complex process in the government, and will increasingly become more so, and therefore, I don't think it would be to appropriate for a police agency to sit in judgment over policy formulation without any evidence of malafide".
He said that corruption, according to him a natural consequence of higher economic growth, needed to be combated , but also emphasized that agency also need to factor in the need to accelerate economic growth and protect institutions of governance. "It is also important to ensure that the work of nation building goes on at a reasonably fast pace," Singh said, adding that public debate on corruption also needs to concentrate a little more on what it would take to make our progress even faster.
"It also needs to concentrate more on the achievements that we can legitimately be proud of. We can't be all the time just running down institutions of governance because there has been some cases of wrong doing."
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