CBI worked under superintendence, administrative control of Union government: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared that the CBI worked under superintendence and administrative control of Union government as it has been established by the Centre as per the statutory scheme of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta rejected preliminary objections made by the Union government that an original suit filed by the West Bengal government under Article 131 of the Constitution, questioning validity of the CBI probe despite withdrawal of consent in 2018, would not be maintainable against it.

The Union government claimed the CBI was an independent body and does not work under it, so the Centre can't be sued here.

In its judgment, the bench, however, said as per the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, the very establishment, exercise of powers, extension of jurisdiction, the superintendence of the CBI, all vest with the Government of India.

The court said, "No doubt that the powers of superintendence of the central government would not relate to the superintendence of investigation of a particular case and the investigating agency (CBI) would always be entitled to investigate the offences independently. However, that would not water down the administrative control and superintendence of the DSPE that vests with the Union of India."

According to Section 3 of the DSPE Act, the bench noted, it is clear that the CBI is entitled to investigate only such offences or classes of offences which are specified by the central government by issuing a notification in the official gazette.

The court also found the superintendence of the CBI in all matters vested with the central government, except in those cases registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, which are supervised by the Central Vigilance Commission.

The court rejected a contention of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre that even if the CBI, being an independent agency, is considered to be an instrumentality of the State under Article 12 of the Constitution, it cannot be equated to the term Government of India as contemplated under Article 131 of the Constitution.

The submission "in our view, holds no water," the bench added.

The West Bengal government said the CBI has been established by the Union government, which exercised the power of control and superintendence over it.

The state government contended whether after withdrawal of the consent, the CBI via the Union of India can continue to register and investigate cases in its area in violation of the provisions of Section 6 of the DSPE Act.

In its judgement, the court rejected the objections made by the Union government, and scheduled the suit for framing of issues on August 13.

During the hearing, Mehta also said, "The CBI is not under the Centre. It is an independent body and not the one coming under the central government. Therefore, the central government cannot be sued in the matter."

He further accused the West Bengal government of trying to litigate the same issue in two different cases before the apex court.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the WB government, told the court that the CBI could not probe cases after withdrawal of the state government's general consent.

"The Delhi Special Police Establishment Act impacts the federal structure of this country. General Consent is necessary before you get entry in the State," he said.

He also pointed out that once the CBI got foothold in a State, soon after the ED also entered for investigating the predicate offence. "It has huge ramifications on the polity of this country. All of this has enormous implications for the Indian polity," he said.

The WB government had on November 16, 2018, withdrew the general consent accorded to the CBI to conduct probe and raids in the State.

In its suit, the state government alleged that the CBI has been filing FIRs and proceeding with its probe, despite the state having withdrawn the general consent to the federal agency to probe cases within its territorial jurisdiction.