Faced with the Supreme Court rap on the independent functioning of CBI, the Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram today discussed ways to give greater autonomy and more financial powers to the agency.
The GoM, at its first meeting, was given a power-point presentation by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in which it opposed scrapping of the provision which requires CBI to seek government's permission before probing an official of the rank of Joint Secretary and above in corruption cases.
The proposal giving more financial powers to the Director of CBI did not find much support in the meeting which was attended by Chidambaram, Law Minister Kapil Sibal, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy, sources privy to the meeting said.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde could not attend the meeting as he is away in the US.
Emerging from an hour-long meeting, Chidambaram told reporters "we were briefed by Department of Personnel on the Supreme Court order. And we were taken through present laws the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, the CVC Act. We were taken through Vineet Narain judgement. We identified the issues that need to be addressed."
He said Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati has been invited to the next meeting as he had appeared in the matter and there is a mention about him in the Supreme Court order.
The sources said CBI Director Ranjit Sinha would make a presentation before the GoM at a later stage.
