 "FM terms Jaitley's CBI autonomy remarks as 'premature'")
Finance Minister P Chidambaram today dismissed as "completely premature and ill-advised" the charge by BJP leader Arun Jaitley that the Cabinet's decision on greater autonomy for CBI is "farcical" and a remedy "worse" than the problem.
Expressing surprise at the statement, Chidambaram said he should have waited for the Centre's affidavit to be filed in the Supreme Court on July 3 before using such "strong" words like "farcical" on the government's action in this regard.
Without getting into the contents of the affidavit to be filed in the Court, he made it clear that the government before granting autonomy to CBI intended to bring the issue in the form of a Bill in Parliament and that it is "not doing anything by bypassing Parliament".
"I am totally surprised by that statement. I think it is completely premature and ill-advised statement," Chidambaram told PTI.
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"Let the affidavit come and then you can tell us which part of the affidavit is farcical. Farce is a strong word. Which part is farcical?...Well, hard words break no bones," Chidambaram said responding to the statement by the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
Jaitley, in an article, had yesterday termed the Cabinet's decision on CBI autonomy as a "camouflage" and said it creates an 'illusion' by replacing political executive with its proxy institution and asked all to oppose the move.
"The recent decision of the Union Cabinet based on GOM recommendations is a camouflage. It creates an illusion by removing the political executive and creating a proxy institution instead. The government's decision is a remedy worse than the existing problem," Jaitley said in the article.
Chidambaram said the affidavit to be filed in the court sets out the intentions of the government on what it plans to do on the issue.
"But we have made it very clear that it has to eventually become a Bill. It has to go to Parliament. It has to go through a Parliamentary Standing Committee. It has to come back to Parliament and only Parliament can amend the law.
"I'm sure, Mr Jaitley and his friends will continue to remain in Parliament when the Bill comes up and they can make their suggestions there. We are not doing anything by bypassing Parliament.
Jaitley said in fact the last paragraph of the affidavit to the Supreme Court says very clearly that this has to go through the Parliamentary process.
"I don't wish to share the contents of the affidavit which will be filed day after tomorrow. Let the affidavit come and then you can tell us which part of the affidavit is farcical. Farce is a strong word. Which part is farcical," the Finance Minister said.
Citing government's action in setting out the mode for appointment of CBI Director which is part of the Lokpal Bill passed in Lok Sabha, of which BJP was a party, Chidambaram suggested the affidavit may state that whatever Lok Sabha has passed will be copied into Delhi Special Police Establishment Act for appointing the Director CBI.
"How is it a farcical decision. It is the most logical decision...Wait until the day after tomorrow and then you can tell me which is the farcical decision," he said.
On why the Group of Ministers did not accept the CBI's key demand to amend Section 6A of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, Chidambaram said it was to safeguard serving officers.
He suggested that it was the BJP which had brought in section 6A, which gives safeguards to serving officers from any inquiry or investigation into any offence alleged to have been committed under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (49 of 1988) except with the previous approval of the Central Government.
"All the parties have agreed when we discussed it in the Lokpal context, all the parties agreed that some safeguards must be provided to serving officers at the decision-making level. That is why Section 6A was introduced," he said.
Questioning BJP if it disowned Section 6A of DSPE Act, he said, "some safeguards are being built now" for which one should wait.