Bengal govt restores CBI consent for corruption probes
Kolkata, June 8
West Bengal government on Monday announced the official restoration of "general consent" or "standing clearance" to the Central Bureau of Investigation to initiate any probe on corruption charges in the state without taking prior permission of the state government.
However, the state government has kept a rider in restoring this "general consent" or "standing clearance" to the CBI, under which the central probe agency will have to take prior permission from the state government if the charge is against any state government employee.
The "general consent" or "standing clearance" to the CBI to initiate a probe in the state was withdrawn by the previous Trinamool Congress-ruled, Mamata Banerjee-led state cabinet in 2018.
In that case, the CBI was left with two options for initiating a probe in West Bengal. Either it had to individually seek permission from the state government to initiate a probe in individual cases, or it could start a probe following any court order.
On Monday, the new West Bengal government set aside the move by the previous regime and restored "general consent" or "standing clearance" to the CBI under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.
To recall, even after the withdrawal of the "general consent" or "standing clearance" to the CBI in 2018, the agency was still registering FIRs in several cases involving corruption charges.
The then Trinamool Congress government approached the Supreme Court opposing the CBI's move. Even in cases where the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe, the previous state government opposed the order at the Supreme Court.
The Union government then claimed that the powers of any state government were not unlimited and no state government could adopt such a step to shield accused persons or for political motives.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Good move but with conditions. The rider about state employees needing prior permission means corruption in state departments may still go unchecked. CBI should have full autonomy. Partial consent is not enough.
As someone following Indian politics from abroad, this seems like a positive step. The CBI should be able to investigate corruption without political hurdles. Restoring general consent is a move in right direction for transparency and accountability.
The rider for state employees is a loophole large enough to drive a truck through. Most corruption in West Bengal involves state government officials. This is just optics - show you're tough on corruption while keeping backdoor protection. We need absolute CBI consent or nothing.
It's a welcome change. The previous government wasting crores of taxpayers' money fighting court cases just to block CBI probes was shameful. Now at least there will be some accountability. But I still worry about implementation - bureaucracy could still stall things.
Half-baked decision. Why keep any rider at all? Either CBI should have full freedom or keep the old policy. This middle path satisfies no one. State employees will continue to be above the law just like before. We need clean governance, not political compromises.
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