At 168, Maharashtra has maximum pending CBI probe requests

Maharashtra had withdrawn general consent to the CBI in 2020 after the Uddhav Thackeray-led government came to power.

According to the data (up to June 30) provided by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in Rajya Sabha, Maharashtra had the highest number of pending requests with 39 requests pending for more than one year and 38 for over six months.

West Bengal, which withdrew general consent to CBI in 2018, had only one CBI request pending for over one year, one request pending for over six months and 25 requests pending for less than six months.

Punjab, which withdrew CBI consent in 2020, had kept five CBI requests pending for more than six months and four requests pending for less than that period.

Rajasthan, which had withdrawn consent the same year, had four requests from the CBI pending with it — both less than one year. Jharkhand, too, withdrew CBI consent in 2020 and currently has six CBI requests pending of which four are pending for less than six months.

Chhattisgarh, which withdrew CBI consent in 2019, has seven requests pending with only one case pending for more than six months.

The government said the total amount involved in these cases was in excess of Rs 30,000 crore with Maharashtra alone accounting for Rs 29,000 crore.

Since 2015, as many as nine states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Mizoram and Meghalaya — have withdrawn general consent to the CBI. Opposition-ruled states have alleged the CBI has become its master’s voice and has been unfairly targeting Opposition leaders.

Withdrawal of general consent means that to probe any case in these states, CBI would have to take prior permission from the state government. CBI has claimed that this has tied its hands. In November last year, the Supreme Court expressed concern over CBI’s submission that 78% of its 150 requests for sanction to investigate cases were pending with state governments that had withdrawn consent to the CBI. On the other hand, in as many as 177 cases involving 455 public servants, CBI had not got sanction for prosecution from the Central Government till the end of 2020.

On Thursday, MoS PMO, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, gave the latest data on this front. “As on June 30, a total of 101 requests under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, involving 235 public servants are pending with various ministries and departments of the Union Government and Public Sector Banks,” he said.