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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

15/07/24 12:59 PM IST

Jurisdiction of CBI

In News
  • The Supreme Court upheld the maintainability of the West Bengal government’s suit accusing the Union government of “constitutional overreach” by employing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register and investigate cases in the State despite its withdrawal of general consent on November 16, 2018. 
General consent for CBI
  • Under Section 6 of the DSPE Act, the CBI is required to obtain consent from the concerned State government before initiating an investigation within its jurisdiction.
  • This permission is crucial since “police” and “public order” are subjects that fall within the State List under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
  • However, no such prior consent is necessary in Union territories or railway areas.
  • General consent is typically given by States to facilitate the agency’s seamless investigation into corruption charges against Central government employees in their territories.
  • However, since 2015, several States such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Meghalaya and West Bengal have revoked their general consent alleging that the Union government is misusing the federal agency to unfairly target the Opposition.
  • In the absence of such an omnibus consent, the CBI will be unable to register any fresh cases in these States without the explicit permission of the respective State governments.
Centre v/s State
  • The framers of the Constitution envisioned such conflicts between the Centre and the States owing to the existing quasi-federal structure and dual polity.
  • As a result, they conferred original and exclusive jurisdiction upon the Supreme Court to address such disputes, under Article 131.
  • For a suit to be maintainable under this provision, two conditions have to be satisfied — it should relate to a dispute between the Government of India and one or more State Governments (or) between one or more State Governments, and it must involve a question of law or fact crucial to the determination of legal rights.
  • In State Of Karnataka v. Union Of India (1977), the Supreme Court observed that Article 131 is a feature of federalism and should be “widely and generously interpreted” to advance the intended remedy.
  • Similarly, in State Of Rajasthan & Ors. v. Union Of India (1977), the top Court cautioned against taking a very “restrictive or a hyper-technical view of the State’s rights.” 
  • The CBI was an “independent agency” since it did not function under the direct control of the Union government.
  • “The Union does not supervise the registration of offences or investigation or closure or filing of chargesheet or conviction or acquittal of cases by the CBI.
  • The Court observed that a bare perusal of the provisions of the DSPE Act reveals that right from the constitution of the CBI, the classes of offences which are to be investigated by it, to its administration and powers, it is the “Central government that it is vitally concerned with.”
  • “Under Section 4 of the DSPE Act, except the offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, in which the superintendence will be with the Central Vigilance Commission, the superintendence of the DSPE in all other matters would vest with the Central government,” Justice Gavai, who authored the verdict.
  • The judge also reminded the Centre that Section 6 of the DSPE Act mandates the prior consent of the State government to a CBI probe within its jurisdiction.
  • While the Court recognised that the CBI would always be entitled to investigate offences independently, it underscored that this autonomy “would not water down” its administrative control and superintendence that vests with the Centre.
  • It thus proceeded to conclude that the Solicitor General’s argument that the CBI is an “independent agency” holds no water. 
Implications
  • If the CBI is permitted to initiate investigations in States that have revoked their general consent, it would be an affront to federalism.
  • This could strain Centre-State relations, particularly since the police is a State subject under the Constitution.
  • Allowing the CBI to register cases would effectively confer upon it the same powers as the State police forces.
Source- The Hindu

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