Maharashtra Denies consent to CBI

Maharashtra Denies consent to CBI

• Recently, the Maharashtra government withdrew its general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe cases in the State.
• The move comes a day after the CBI registered an FIR in the TRP scam after taking over the probe based on an FIR filed in Uttar Pradesh.
• The Maharashtra government had an apprehension that the CBI would take over the TRP scam case that the Mumbai Police are already investigating.
• Earlier this year (2020), the CBI had also taken over the investigation into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, which was being probed by the Mumbai Police.
• The Maharashtra government suspects the CBI of acting at the behest of the Centre.
• The Supreme Court in the past has called the CBI a “caged parrot” that sings the Centre’s tune.
• Maharashtra is the third State after West Bengal and Rajasthan to take such an action. The current confrontation also strengthens the perception that states in opposition see the Centre as weaponizing the CBI to control opposition-led governments in states.

General Consent

• Unlike the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is governed by its own NIA Act, 2008 and has jurisdiction across the country, the CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 (DSPE Act, 1946) that makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting an investigation in that state.
• There are two kinds of consent- case-specific and general. Given that the CBI has jurisdiction only over central government departments and employees, it can investigate a case involving state government employees or a violent crime in a given state only after that state government gives its consent.
• Section 6 of the DSPE Act, 1946 empowers the state government to give or deny consent to CBI officers to investigate the matter within the state.
• “General consent” is normally given to help the CBI seamlessly conduct its investigation into cases of corruption against central government employees in the concerned state. Almost all states have given such consent.

Impact of Withdrawal of General Consent

• It means the CBI will not be able to register any fresh case involving a central government official or a private person stationed in Maharashtra without getting case-specific consent.
• Withdrawal of consent will only bar the CBI from registering a case within the jurisdiction of concerned states. The CBI could still file cases in Delhi and continue to probe people inside Maharashtra.
• In simple terms withdrawal of consent means that CBI officers will lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state unless the state government has allowed them.
• It will have no impact on the investigation of cases already registered with CBI as old cases were registered when general consent existed.
• However, the CBI has recently started taking recourse in a Calcutta High Court judgment.
• The HC, in its order in the Ramesh Chandra Singh and another vs CBI, 2020 observed that CBI’s power to investigate and prosecute its own officials cannot be in any way impeded or interfered with by the state even if the offenses were committed within the territory of the state.

Source: Indian Express