By IANS
New Delhi : Stressing the urgent need for reforms in the existing criminal justice system, a government panel Wednesday recommended the creation of an independent agency to tackle crimes such as terrorism that threaten national security.
"We have recommended that there be a separate and independent professional authority, comparable to either the Election Commission or Comptroller and Auditor General of India to deal with crimes that pose a threat to national security and also investigation of corruption cases," said N.R. Madhav Menon, chairman of the Committee on Criminal Justice System.
The committee, which was set up by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government more than a year ago, has suggested important changes in the existing system of legal and police functioning.
Menon, a former director of the National Judicial Academy, told reporters after submitting the report to Home Minister Shivraj Patil that the proposed authority should be empowered to deal with all crimes that have ramifications at the national level.
In fact, he went a step further to point out that the country's premier investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), was neither independent enough nor had the necessary jurisdiction.
"It (CBI) does not have the resources or personnel required for the purpose, so there is a pressing need for an agency with accountability only to law and the courts," Menon said.
"The new agency should have the freedom to investigate cases across the country and should also have its permanent cadre of officials."
In its report, the four-member panel expressed serious concern over crimes such as terrorism, hijacking and drug peddling that affect national security.
The panel also said that it was necessary to put in place a more transparent and effective method of dealing with ''corruption in the judiciary.''
"All judges should be required to make public disclosure of their assets annually to a judicial ombudsman that could be a three-member body of retired chief justices, election commissioners or former comptroller and auditor generals, appointed by the president in consultation with the chief justice," the committee said in its report.
Key recommendations of the committee include paying compensation to victims of serious and heinous crimes and the introduction of more codes in place of the existing Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure.
The committee has asked for the starting up of codes like a Social Welfare Code and Correction Offences Code to deal with cases like marriage offences, prohibition offences, vagrancy and campus indiscipline.
Menon also suggests an Economic Offence Code for threat to the country's economy, a proposal to consider imposing a security cess on large industrial houses and a victim compensation fund for security forces.
But despite the ground-breaking suggestions, the Menon committee's proposals could meet the fate of the Soli Sorabjee report that last year recommended sweeping changes in the antiquated 1861 Police Act.
"If implemented in the right spirit, the proposed reforms will free the police machinery from the clutches of the high and the mighty, including politicians," said a ministry official.
"There is a Supreme Court directive to the central government and the states to implement police reforms but many governments are still resisting."
Besides Menon, the committee comprised Anil Choudhary, former special secretary (internal security), Mohan Dayal Rijhwani, senior advocate, and Kamal Kumar, a former director of the National Police Academy.