Source - news18.com
Consent of state government is mandatory for a CBI investigation in its jurisdiction and the agency cannot examine without its consent, the Supreme Court has said. A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and B R Gavai said the provisions are the federal character of the Constitution.
The apex court referred sections 5 and 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, which deal with extension of powers and jurisdiction of special police established in other areas and state government's consent to exercise powers and jurisdiction.
The Bench said , “It could thus be seen, that though Section 5 enables the central government to extend the powers and jurisdiction of members of the DSPE beyond the Union Territories to a State, the same is not permissible unless a State grants its consent for such an extension within the area of State concerned under Section 6 of the DSPE Act.”
The apex court's observation came on an appeal filed by an accused, private and public servants, challenging the validity of the CBI investigation against the ground that prior consent was not taken from the state government.
The high court had noted that the Uttar Pradesh government had granted post-facto consent. Thus, court rejected the appeal of the accused and said the state of UP had given a general consent for an extension of powers and jurisdiction of the members of DSPE in under the Prevention of Corruption Act.