The Supreme Court on Thursday held that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) does not require the permission of the state government to file an FIR under a central law against a central government employee posted in that state.
A bench of Justices C T Ravikumar and Rajesh Bindal gave the ruling while overturning an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court that quashed the proceedings against two central government employees. Two FIRs were lodged against two central government employees working in Andhra Pradesh under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The accused had approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging the FIRs on the ground of lack of general consent of the state. It was the argument of the accused persons that the general consent given by the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh under the Delhi Police Special Establishment Act, 1946 was not valid after the bifurcation of the state.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court passed an order quashing the proceedings against the accused. However, the Supreme Court set aside the order of the High Court observing that there was no lack of consent. The Supreme Court observed that the general consent was given through government order of 1990 and it was later extended to Andhra Pradesh through subsequent orders.
Besides, the Supreme Court clarified that the permission of the state government was not a requirement in case an FIR was filed under a central law against a central government employee even though the employee might be posted in that state. The Court said that the High Court erred in interpreting that the consent of the state government was required in such cases.
The CBI comes under the DSPE Act which requires states to give the agency consent to act against central government employees within a state as public order and police come under the state governments. To avoid issuing separate consents for each case, states generally issue a blanket consent to the CBI, which is routinely renewed. But after withdrawal of the general consent, the agency has to seek permission for each cases it wants to probe in the states, and the states may refuse to grant such permission.
Several states including West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra have withdrawn the general consent in the past. Andhra Pradesh had also withdrawn the consent in November 2018 during the Chandrababu Naidu govt, but it was restored by the Jagan Mohan Reddy govt in June 2019.
