After nine long years the disproportionate assets case hanging over the head of UP Chief Minister Miss Mayawati like the Damocles Sword has been quashed. The Supreme Court implicitly criticized the CBI of mixing up the Taj Corridor Case with the Disproportionate Assets case to ruin chances of conviction in either case.

The SC said that the method adopted by the CBI was "unwarranted" and the agency proceeded against her without properly understanding the Court’s orders passed in the Taj Corridor scam. The SC bench said: "There is no material report of disproportionate assets case against the petitioner (Mayawati) in the Taj Corridor scam."  The court said that the CBI should not have at all launched the case of disproportionate assets linked to the Taj Corridor Case.

With all due respect to the Honourable Supreme Court are Judges too innocent or are they being too tactful? If the case had not been launched how could any pressure have been exerted on Miss Mayawati? If pressure had not been exerted how could Miss Mayawati have been persuaded to vote along with her bitterest rival Mr. Mulayam Singh to favour Mr. Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature in the ongoing Presidential election? The incompetence displayed by the CBI is at unbelievable variance from the actual competence of its staff. As we read about the threats of narco-analysis tests being conducted on Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy related to his disproportionate assets case in Andhra, the brazen misuse of the CBI as an instrument of blackmail, coercion and persuasion could not have been more ugly.

Some of the finest and most competent CBI sleuths in the business have been reduced to being used as pawns and instruments by a corrupt and criminal government. To take the SC ruling in the case against Miss Mayawati to its logical conclusion, should not the public demand that the incompetent CBI officials responsible for the botch up should be sacked? If there was no case against Miss Mayawati why was she for so long harassed? If there was a case why was it so mishandled as to be quashed? If it was due to unbelievable incompetence some action by authorities is required. If it was due to deliberate action under political pressure some action by authorities must be demanded. 

One is aware of the constraints facing CBI officials working under government pressure. One is aware of their stakes. There are families to protect and children to look after. It is not easy to defy political pressure at the cost of endangering both. But Indian bureaucrats in terms of competence are the cream of Indian society. If India does not stand up to end the present political rot our democratic system and nation will be under threat. Someone has to take the lead. Whatever the cost in terms of personal insecurity our officials, especially officers of the CBI, must take the lead and insist on observing both the letter and spirit of the laws they are assigned to protect. While the world watches India, time is running out.