Investigative agencies should learn to differentiate between policymaking and policing and tread carefully before reaching any conclusion in policy matters, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.

Mr. Chidambaram suggested that investigative agencies should not overstep their limits. He even reminded them these agencies that laying down "rules of conduct" was not their business. The Finance Minister was speaking at an international conference on corruption organized by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday.

Addressing a gathering at the event, Mr. Chidambaram said, "It is not the business of the investigating agency to question the wisdom of (a) policy or to suggest a different policy that would be better in the view of the investigating agency."

He even said that there were numerous cases where investigative agencies like CBI and other authorities such as the Comptroller & Auditor-General (CAG) had "overstepped" their limits and tried to exhibit above-board executive decisions as abuse of authority.

In response to a question on the autonomy of CBI, he said the government would give functional autonomy to the federal investigative agency but it would be governed by the general of the administrative government.