General Consent For The CBI: Withdrawn By Meghalaya
Meghalaya has withdrawn consent to the CBI to investigate cases in the state, becoming the ninth state to have taken this step.
- Eight other states which had withdrawn consent to the CBI: Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, and Mizoram.
- In November last year, the Supreme Court had expressed concern over a submission by the CBI that since 2018, around 150 requests for sanction to investigate had been pending with the eight state governments who had withdrawn general consent until then.
- The CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act that makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting 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.
- “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.
- Withdrawal Simply 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.
- The decision means the CBI will now have to get consent from the state government for every case it registers in Meghalaya.
