State permission required for CBI probe, Supreme Court gives important verdict

- The state can withdraw permission at any time

New delhi date. Thursday 19 November 2020

The apex court had ruled that the state government's permission was required to hand over the investigation of any case to the CBI.

The Supreme Court on Thursday morning said in no uncertain terms that the constitutional provision suits the federal character. No case can be investigated by the CBI without the consent of the state government.

There has been a lot of controversy over this issue recently. In particular, while the Mumbai police was investigating the case of the untimely death of Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput, the Maharashtra state government had opposed the handing over of the case to the CBI, saying the Mumbai police investigation was in the right direction.

When the CBI probe also turned out to be similar to the Mumbai police probe, the state government had announced that it would withdraw the permission of the CBI to investigate any case in Maharashtra. However, the order did not apply to cases already being investigated by the CBI.

Following Maharashtra, one or two other states also withdrew their permission to the CBI. The apex court had clearly stated that the rule was applicable under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946. The CBI is required to seek the consent and permission of the concerned state government before initiating any case.