India needs a system where enquiries initiated by investigative agencies are done “very quickly and finished very quickly”, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said.

People are unhappy because these enquiries take too long, Ahluwalia told reporters on the sidelines of the 35th Skoch summit in the Capital on Saturday.

He was responding to mediapersons’ queries on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) move to initiate preliminary enquiry against former SEBI Chairman CB Bhave and former SEBI wholetime Director KM Abraham.

Ahluwalia declined to comment on any factual enquiry, but noted that “both Bhave and Abraham by reputation are officers of terrific integrity”.

At the same time, he they (CBI) are not charging them (two former SEBI officials) with anything.

“They (CBI) are enquiring. Onus is on the enquiring agency to decide if they have a case. So they (former SEBI officials) are not being charged with anything yet. That is my understanding”, he said.

“In this particular case, my understanding was no permission of government is needed to start such enquiry if officials concerned are retired. We need to look at this whether it is a good system or not.”

“We are really caught in a situation where multiple demands are being placed on the system. It is not clear how we will find a way for resolving these issues satisfactorily,” he said.

Morale down HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, who received a lifetime achievement award, said at the event that the morale of the bureaucracy was down.

“Impropriety is one thing but unleashing the Central Vigilance Commission, Central Bureau of Investigation years after they (SEBI officials) have retired is totally unacceptable,” he said.

Restoring the confidence of the bureaucracy was crucial for improving the state of governance, he noted.

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