The Supreme Court Wednesday termed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) a "caged parrot" that "speaks in its master's voice".
The court's observations came on CBI director Ranjit Sinha's second affidavit filed on Monday stating that Law Minister Ashwani Kumar 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.
Here are some observations of the bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha.
"It is a caged parrot speaking in its master's voice."
"It's a sordid saga that there are many masters and one parrot."
The bench asked the government whether it was contemplating a law to make the working of the CBI independent.
"The best things would be that such a law is put in place before the next hearing of the case (July 10) so that there would be an impartial and non-partisan independent investigating agency."
"It would be golden. It would really be wonderful."
"If the CBI is not made independent, we will step in."
"The CBI must know how to stand up against all pulls and pressures by government and its officials."
"Whether the central government intends to bring some law to ensure the independence of the CBI and its functional autonomy and insulate it from extraneous influences and interferences and make it a non-partisan investigating agency."
"We would like to know the government's position before any exercise by us to ensure that the CBI functioned effectively, efficiently and independently particularly in cases regarding corruption."
"After so many years, we are at the worst stage."
"We want an unambiguous assurance, very clear and candid assurance from you that law will be in place in a particular time."
"The heart of the report was changed on the suggestions of government officials."
"The job of the CBI is not to interact with government officials but to interrogate to find the truth."
