Parliamentary panel for new law to define CBI’s mandate, vest more powers in it
NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over the rising trend of state governments withdrawing their consent for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, a parliamentary standing committee has recommended to the Centre to assess if there was a need to amend the existing laws or pass a new law in order to clearly define the CBI’s mandate and vest more powers in it.
So far, eight non-Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states have withdrawn their general consent required for initiating a CBI investigation. Five of these states, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand and Punjab, did this only last year.
In its report, the panel has referred to the CBI’s submission that it was unable to take up investigation of new cases in the absence of general consent from the states, especially in cases of bank fraud/economic offences and corruption involving central government employees where there are allegations of misappropriation of huge amounts of public money.
“The committee agrees with the view of (the) CBI that withdrawal of general consent by states impedes investigation. The committee, therefore, recommends the government to assess if there is a need to amend the existing Laws or bring out a new law altogether in order to clearly define the mandate of (the) CBI and vest more powers in it,” said the report recently tabled in Parliament.
Mizoram, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand and Punjab are the other states which have withdrawn their general consent.
Mizoram did so in July 2015, followed by West Bengal and Chhattisgarh in November 2018 and January 2019, respectively and the remaining states withdrew consent in 2020.
As per section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the consent of state governments is required by the CBI to carry out investigations in any area of a State that is not being a union territory or a railway area.
Pursuant to the grant of consent by the state government, the central government, by a notification under section 5 of the DSPE Act, extends the powers and jurisdiction of the CBI to the state to conduct investigations for specified offences.
A confrontation between non-BJP ruled state governments and the Centre has become quite frequent as the CBI has delved into cases that are seen as politically-motivated or were being probed by local law enforcement.
Recently, the Maharashtra government withdrew its consent hours after the CBI filed a case to investigate the TV ratings scam on the basis of a complaint filed in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier this year, the investigation in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput was handed over to the central agency as well.