New Delhi: Raising a preliminary objection to a civil suit by the West Bengal government against the Centre, alleging misuse of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Centre Thursday told the Supreme Court (SC) that the CBI is an “independent body”, “does not come under the central government”, and “cannot be a subject of an original suit under Article 131 of the Constitution”.
The Supreme Court has jurisdiction under Article 131 to settle disputes between the Centre and one or more states or between states. West Bengal has invoked its powers as a federal court to file a civil suit against the Centre, opposing CBI investigations in West Bengal without the “general consent” of the state government.
The civil suit comes in the backdrop of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) taking up investigations into cases of alleged corruption in West Bengal. The CBI, however, has maintained that it gets involved in the probes only on the order of the West Bengal High Court.
Before the West Bengal government opened its case, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before a bench of justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta that the civil suit was not maintainable and should be dismissed.
“As an independent body, CBI does not function under the Centre,” he said, adding that it cannot be sued in a suit.
“CBI is not under Centre and cannot be subject to an original suit. The instrumentality of the state can also not be a defendant. Union does not register any (CBI) case(s),” Mehta told the court.
The West Bengal government contested Mehta’s suggestions, saying that CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPE Act), 1946, and comes under the superintendence of the central government. On this point, senior advocate Kapil Sibal defended the maintainability of the suit against the Centre.
In his submission, Sibal said the CBI can’t be viewed as an “independent” or “statutory authority” and, like any state police, which is the investigative arm of the state government, the CBI too is regulated by a statute and is not a statutory authority in itself, Sibal argued.
Sibal further argued about the “enormous implications” the CBI probe in state matters will have on “Indian polity”.
“We are dealing with a statute (DSPE) that impacts the federal structure of this country. Consent (of the state) is necessary before you get entry into the state,” Sibal argued.
On the “huge ramifications” a CBI probe has, Sibal said, “Once the central agency gets a foothold, ED also enters for investigating the predicate offence.”
The West Bengal government claimed in its suit that it has withdrawn “general consent” for CBI investigations, which means the CBI can no longer proceed with any investigations in the state.
In his second limb of submissions, Mehta accused West Bengal of suppressing information from the court, pointing out the state has raised a similar question of law in another pending case.
“..how can you suppress important documents before the highest court of the country? This is a ground for dismissal of the suit at the threshold,” the solicitor told the bench.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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