DailyPost 1873
INVESTIGATION MAHOTSAVA!
The Investigation Mahotsava can be operationally termed as the cleansing of India. It would be a super operational festival to bring sanity in everything we do; into our system, in our ecosystem. It would never happen, but hypothetically is there a strength in the argument? It can also usher in process-oriented clarity in investigation, same cases being investigated by different agencies or there being a permanent clamor for investigative agency change. How can the finality puzzle of investigation and justice be sorted out? Non-finality can always keep us in flux. The investigator and investigating agencies’ jigsaw puzzle has to be sorted out and also the power play around them. Checks and balances are standing in its head.
Whether you accept it or not, investigation is one single official activity that is deciding the fate of this nation. There is no political party and barely any leader who is not impacted by it. Nearly always a super navigation game is being played with the system. Do whatever you feel like, whatever suits you best or where you gain the maximum and be able to manage legally safely. Is it not the job of all stakeholders, legally bound to facilitate the investigation process or be a bottle neck. The commission is only one part of the story, the deliberate omission is writing our common destiny. These elements will never get caught. The official turning professional absconders are not created in a day, the ecosystem grooms them for decades to be one. The number is increasing.
If all that is under investigation today is to be successfully completed with finality, leave aside lots known which are deliberately buried, it would take more than a year, if all agencies put their hearts and minds together, are provided all necessary resources; human, technical and financial. All government departments, ministries and regulatory agencies provide whatever is asked for by the investigators inclusive of approvals and availability of officials. One year governance can happen only at the mechanical / maintenance level and all energies and focus of the government is channeled towards achieving a paradigm shift in the whole investigation ecosystem; quality and delivery. The prosecutors and justice systems logistics and manpower will also have to be taken care of.
Seamless coordination between the investigative agencies, with data enablement and focused and result oriented communication between them, would be highpoints of Investigation Mahotsava. All leads provided by auditors, foreign investigations, media agencies, international watchdogs, relevant and worthwhile for the nation should be one of the critical pro-active works of this Super Investigation exercise. When investigation is coming in the way of governance, growth, national and security issues, it is high time we prove its worth once and for all, in the interest of the nation. The chalta hai and get away attitude too deeply seated in our psyche, has to be convincingly uprooted. Investigation has to stand on its own feet and no better way to do it than to have a yearlong Investigation Conscription. Lets celebrate the investigation for a national purpose.
INVESTIGATION IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE TOOL OF RULE OF LAW.*
Sanjay Sahay