Debar CBI from holding probes without state nod: TMC govt

The West Bengal government has filed a suit in Supreme Court to debar the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from conducting probes in the state without prior approval of the government. Underlining that the TMC government had in November 2018, withdrawn general consent to carry out a probe in the territory of the state, the suit maintained that registration of 12 cases by the central agency despite

NEW DELHI:

withdrawal of consent was an instance of “constitutional overreach” by the Union government.

The state said that the CBI has no inherent jurisdiction to conduct a probe in any part of the state, including railway areas, till the time it obtains a prior sanction. The petition demands annulment of all 12 cases registered by the CBI and to restrain the agency from lodging any fresh cases.

tail the legislative powers of a state under the principles of judicial review or in exercise of the court’s extraordinary authority under Article 142 (power to issue orders for doing complete justice).

“The state government has the autonomy to select and appoint the DGP in the state without having to refer the names for empanelment to the UPSC, and to resultantly appoint the DGP from the panel prepared by the UPSC...THE ultimate power to therefore exercise superintendence, extended to the selection of the DGP (HOPF) is therefore vested with the state government and cannot be taken away,” stated the application.

Under the 2018 order, states need to send names of DGP candidates to UPSC, which picks three candidates from the eligible names based on seniority, experience, service record and other criteria. The state government then selects any of the top three candidates, provided that the candidate has a minimum of six months of service left.

On July 2, the UPSC wrote to Bengal chief secretary HK Dwivedi seeking a list of eligible officers for the post. Roughly 10 days later, Bengal government prepared a list of 21 names for UPSC.