Minister of State in Prime Minister's office (PMO), V. Narayanasamy, on Friday said that no one should interfere in the working of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and added that it should be given a free hand to investigate any matter.
"As far as the CBI autonomy as far as the investigation is concerned yesterday we had a meeting under the chairmanship of P Chidambaram, the Honourable Prime Minister constituted the group of ministers to look into the matter. We discussed several issues related to the autonomy to the CBI," he told media here.
"The Supreme Court judgement has clearly mentioned that the overall superintendence and administrative control can remain with the government specially the department of personnel as well as the investigation part is concerned the CBI should be given the free hand to investigate the matter. Nobody should interfere in the investigation process of CBI," Narayanasamy added.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had recently formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to decide the plan of action to insulate the investigating agency from external influence.
Besides Chidambaram, the GoM has External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, newly-appointed Law Minister Kapil Sibal, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari and Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy as members.
The government's move came after the Supreme Court had called the CBI "a caged parrot" that "speaks in its master"s voice after the investigating agency admitted in an affidavit that Ashwani Kumar, who quit as the Law Minister, and senior officials of the Prime Minister"s Office and the coal ministry had made certain changes in the report on the allocation of coal blocks.
The apex court, which reserved its harshest words for the CBI, calling it a "caged parrot with many masters", stressed the need for the CBI to operate independently of the political establishment.
"You are not a constable or head constable. You are a premier investigating agency and must learn to work under pressure. It (probe) is not a collaborative exercise between the CBI and ministry officials ... It is a sordid saga of many masters and one parrot," it said.