NDTV: New Delhi: Thursday, 12 March 2015.
Sixteen officers of Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), the country's premier agency investigating graft cases,
have been charged with corruption in the past three years, the Lok Sabha was
informed today.
The agency is facing criticism for providing information
on allegations of corruption, in-house or cases probed by it, even though it is
under statutory obligation to provide such records under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act despite being in the list of exempted organisations.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of
State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said, "Of the 16 officers against whom
cases were registered, seven have been chargesheeted along with disciplinary
action as a result of which one of them was dismissed, the second one was removed
from service and another demoted or reduced to lower level of hierarchy."
He said of the remaining nine cases, investigation
is in process against five officers. In the rest four, closure report was filed
after ordering dismissal of one officer, compulsory retirement of another and
two cases are still being pursued in the court.
"All appointments of level of Superintendent
of Police and above in CBI are, accordingly, made on the basis of
recommendations made by a committee headed by Central Vigilance Commissioner
(CVC) as provided under Section 4(c) read with Section 4(a) of the Delhi
Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946," he said.
The Minister said the government is committed to
uphold the independence of the CBI and its Director enjoys a secure term of
minimum two years.
"In order to ensure further transparency and
impartiality in the appointment of CBI Director, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act
provides for appointment of Director on the recommendation of a committee
consisting of the Prime Minister as Chairperson and Leader of Opposition in the
Lok Sabha and Chief Justice of India as the Members," he said.