The Central Bureau Of Investigation, better known as the CBI, suddenly rose to fame after the Bofors Scam. And since then has been in the headlines regularly, thanks to the scams happening in the country.
What exactly is the CBI?
The CBI traces its roots way back in 1941 when the Government of India setup the Special Police Establishment (SPE) to investigate cases of bribery and corruption in transactions of the War and Supply dept. during the second world war. The war ended, but corruption didn’t. So, the department continued to function under the name of Delhi Special Police, which was later changed to the Central Bureau Of Investigation in 1963.Needless to say, looking into matters of corruption by government employees was the main function of the Bureau. So the Economic offences wing, known as the EOW still is the most important department of the CBI.
Why is the CBI so feared?
The CBI, directly functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The only political authority, who has some control over its functioning is the Union Home Minister. Naturally, everyone else in the country is intimidated by the name CBI!
Recent past has shown that even Prime Ministers are no exceptions to this fear. Bofors scam and the JMM bribery case were clear examples of this. Known to be invincible in Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav was finally booked in the Fodder Scam by the CBI, while he was the CM of Bihar. The Harshad Mehta case, Telecom Scam, Hiten Dalal case and the recent Ketan Parekh case, the list is endless!
More about the CBI
The CBI is undoubtedly the most respected department of the Government of India. All the courts of India hold CBI in highest esteem .The officers of CBI are even deputed to the Interpol and its help is sought in various international crimes. It also has other departments and looks into economic crimes like foreign exchange violations, narcotics, smuggling of antiques. Special crimes like terrorism, bomb blasts, crimes of the underworld are investigated by the CBI. Also, incases involving authorities of State Governments, where there are chances that the state police would not be able to investigate the case properly, due to political pressure, the CBI is asked to take charge.
A Director heads the CBI. The other major posts in the CBI include, Additional Director, Joint Director (all located at the HQ, New Delhi) and Dy. Inspector General, Supdt. Of Police, Dy.Supdt of Police, Inspector etc, who are located command wise, each command headed by one DIG. Apart from these, CBI has law officers, technical posts and forensic scientists
Job opportunities in CBI
As for the common man, it is more important to know how a person can get a job here. So let us see the different job opportunities here.
- Dy. Supdt. Of Police
This is a Group-A post, and is filled up by the Union Public Service Commission, through the Civil Service Examination, along with posts like IAS, IPS and IFS.
- Sub Inspectors
This is a Group C post filled up through Staff Selection Commission.
All other posts higher than the Dy.Supdt. are filled up by promotions and deputations from the IPS.
Despite the best of efforts from the CBI to charge sheet criminals and book them, there is lot more to be done. Unfortunately, judicial delays are a major problem here. A case takes more than eight years to come up in the courts after being charge sheeted by the CBI. Until the speed of this legal system does not improve or more Special Courts not set up, the problems faced by this investigation department will not end.
Last time, when I was writing a review, a friend of mine asked me to give my personal experiences with the department and not just its functional details. Well in this case, I have been to the Kitab Mahal and Tanna House offices of the EOW in Mumbai for my maternal grandfather’s pension, since he retired from CBI as Supdt of the Police. No other personal experience with this department, since I have been lucky enough, not to mess up with the CBI.