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New Delhi (ILNS): After Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the Punjab government has also now withdrawn the general consent from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
This means that now without permission CBI will not be able to investigate any new case in Punjab and it will have to take approval from the state government for every case.
Recently, the Uddhav government of Maharashtra also withdrew the general consent from the CBI. In the same month, the Jharkhand government has also announced the withdrawal of this consent from the CBI.
Unlike the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is governed by its own NIA Act and has jurisdiction over the country, the CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. The Act makes it mandatory for a state government to consent to investigation in any state.
There are two types of consent. First case specification and second general. Although the CBI has jurisdiction over the departments and employees of the Central Government, it needs the consent of the State Government to investigate any matter related to the State Government. Only then, it can investigate the case in the state.
The CBI will be able to investigate all the cases that it has registered in Punjab before the return of General Consent. The situation regarding raids is not very clear, but in old cases a warrant can be taken from the court to raid. CBI can investigate in Punjab in connection with the case of cases registered in other states connected to Punjab. In 2018, the Delhi High Court ordered a case in Chhattisgarh, according to which the CBI can file a case in Delhi if the wire of the case is connected to Delhi and then investigate that case anywhere.
Now the CBI will not be able to register a new case against any person in these states without obtaining case-specific consent. According to the report of The Indian Express, the CBI officer said that withdrawal of the general consent means that all the rights of any CBI officer as a police officer are over as soon as they enter these states without the permission of the state government.
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This is not the first time that a state government has blocked its entry into the CBI investigation. Earlier, Maharashtra West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan governments have already done so. Along with this, many other states have also withdrawn their general consent. The Government of Sikkim, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh have also withdrawn the General Consent.