The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that investigation by CBI or by constituting SIT cannot be claimed as a matter of right and can only be directed in making out exceptional and extra-ordinary case having national or countrywide ramification.
The petitioner herein filed a writ petition seeking investigation by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and pleaded that the bank officials acted in collusion with private respondents and have committed fraud on public banks by giving loans amounting to crores of rupees without any proper survey reports and verifications of mortgaged immovable properties which were already sold to the petitioners by registered sale deeds much before the year 2000 when loan was sanctioned and given to the aforesaid respondents, whereas the petitioners are registered owners of the shops and plots in question. Therefore, CBI enquiry deserves to be directed against the said respondents.
The question before the High Court was, “whether the petitioners have made out a case for issuance of writ for investigation of the impugned transaction by Central Bureau of Investigation?”
Acting upon the plea, the single judge bench of Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal, placing reliance on the constitution bench judgement of the Supreme Court in State of W.B. vs. Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, (2010) 3 SCC 571 wherein it was held that, “The extraordinary power under article 226 must be exercised sparingly, cautiously and in exceptional situations where it becomes necessary to provide credibility and instill confidence in investigations or where the incident may have national and international ramifications or where such an order may be necessary for doing complete justice and enforcing the fundamental rights. Otherwise CBI would be flooded with a large number of cases and with limited resources, may find it difficult to properly investigate even serious cases and in the process lose its credibility and purpose with unsatisfactory investigation.”
The High Court observed that the petitioners have failed to make out a case for investigation by a specialised agency (CBI) in light of the decisions rendered by the Supreme Court in the above-cited case, particularly when the substantive writ petition filed by the petitioners against Bank has already been dismissed by this Court.
Thus, the writ petition seeking CBI investigation was dismissed.
-India Legal Bureau