State of the Union

is not quite clear as to whether a subsequent notification re-constituting the Delhi Special Police Establishment under the said Act was ever issued as the 1946 ordinance only midwifed the Special Police Establishment (war department) into the Delhi Special Police Establishment.

Lest you feel as if lost in a maze, let me demystify the legalese. The CBI has no independent standing in law. Simply put, it is a piece of legal fiction whose underpinnings in law are tenuous to say the least. It still draws all its powers of investigation and arrest from the antiquated 1946 Act which essentially being a local Act, provides, that each state through an executive order under Section 6 of the said Act has to give the Special Police Establishment, what is colloquially called the CBI, permission to investigate particular offences in that state. In other words, the CBI can investigate a case only if requested by the concerned state government or directed by the high court or Supreme Court, except if it is a matter pertaining to the Central government.

It is also debatable whether the constitutional scheme even provides for a Central police force. Entries one and two in the State List of the 7th Schedule make public order and police a state subject. In November 2013, Guwahati high court quashed the April 1, 1963, resolution constituting the CBI. Though the Supreme Court stayed the judgment subsequently, the matter remains pending under consideration of the apex court.

The sword of Damocles hangs, quite literally, over the CBI.

The case of our intelligence agencies is even more mesmerising. In response to a parliamentary query pertaining to