Maharashtra govt reverses MVA decision, restores general consent to CBI

Ever since the government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis came to power, it was being speculated that the MVA government’s decision would be reversed.

The MVA government had withdrawn the general consent to the CBI on October 21, 2020, which meant that the central agency would require permission from the state government to take over the investigation of a particular case. This was done claiming interference from the central government to intimidate the state government by misusing the agency.

The move had come a day after the CBI took up the Television Ratings Point (TRP) scam case registered in Uttar Pradesh while the Mumbai police too was investigating certain aspects of the case for which an FIR was registered in the city as well.

Before the MVA government took the decision in October 2020, the Supreme Court in August 2020 had directed the CBI to take over the probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, in which an FIR was registered by Bihar police. Mumbai police too had been investigating the matter.

Unlike the NIA, which is governed by its own Act and has jurisdiction across the country, the CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act that makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting investigation in that state. So, while the NIA could take over the Bhima Koregaon case from Maharashtra police without needing to take permission from the state government, for the CBI to take over probe into a ‘special crime’ case — like murder, rape — it would need the state government’s permission.

However, even in the absence of the state government’s consent, the CBI could still take over probes which the state police were investigating, if the Supreme Court or High Court instructed it to do so.

A case in point is the case of former state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, where months after the Maharashtra government withdrew consent to the CBI, the Bombay High Court in April 2021 directed the agency to carry out a preliminary inquiry into the case related to money laundering and misuse of official position by Deshmukh. The PE then led to registration of an offence against Deshmukh for which he is still behind bars.

In that sense, withdrawal of general consent to the CBI or not giving permission to probe certain cases in most instances has not been effective to stop them from probing a case. In both the TRP and Rajput death probes, FIRs were registered in other states — UP and Bihar — which had links to the case. The governments in these states — which generally did not have opposing state governments — then sought the cases to be transferred to the CBI.

The only case which could not be transferred to the CBI was the Palghar mob lynching case of April 2020 in which two sadhus were killed on the suspicion of being child lifters by locals.

Eventually, after the Shinde-led government came to power, it filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court earlier this month that it had no objection to the case being transferred to the CBI.

So, withdrawal of general consent in most states ended up delaying routine economic offences investigations and anti-corruption probes against central government employees conducted by the CBI for which they had to seek permission from the state government in every case.

Most of these cases were not linked to political leaders.

Other opposition-ruled states such as Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab have also withdrawn the general consent to the CBI citing misuse of the central probe agency. West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has been accusing the political misuse of the central probe agency against its leaders.