New Delhi: Following in the footsteps of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government on Thursday decided to withdraw general consent given to the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe cases in the state.
In a letter addressed to the Union Home Ministry, the state government said the general consent accorded by the state to Delhi Special Police Establishment stands withdrawn. The CBI was constituted under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act of 1946.
With this, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would now require permission of the state government to conduct raids and probe in Chhattisgarh.
Section 5 of the DSPE Act extends the powers and jurisdiction of special police establishment, including CBI, to other areas. But section 6 says that Section 5 shall not be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in a state without the consent of the government of that state.
On October 11, 2018, the issue had come up before the Delhi High Court as the CBI challenged if there was a need for prior sanction from the Chhattisgarh government to investigate an offence in the state.
The Delhi High Court ruled that CBI need not seek the state’s consent, except when the case is registered in that state.
In January 2018, the Supreme Court had agreed to examine a plea of the CBI seeking a clarification on the nature of sanction needed from a state government for conducting any inquiry or investigation into an offence in the state.
The CBI has said that section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, does not talk about the nature of consent and, therefore, it needs a clarification on the issue as it would affect its power to investigate cases.
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