Supreme Court Says State Police Can Probe Corruption Cases Against Central Govt Employees

The top court ruled that proceedings initiated by a state’s anti-corruption agency cannot be invalidated on the ground that CBI was not involved.

The Wire Staff

The top court ruled that proceedings initiated by a state’s anti-corruption agency cannot be invalidated on the ground that CBI was not involved.

supreme court says state police can probe corruption cases against central govt employees

The Supreme Court. Photo: The Wire.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ruled that state police officials are competent to investigate offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) in cases wherein the accused is a central government employee. The top court clarified that such cases are not within the exclusive domain of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), reported Hindustan Times.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing a special leave petition (SLP) that challenged a Rajasthan high court judgement from October 2015. The Supreme Court upheld the high court judgment refusing to quash a corruption case registered by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against a central government employee.

The court held that a state police agency doesn’t require any prior permission or consent of CBI for registering an FIR or filing a charge sheet against a central government employee. It ruled that proceedings initiated by a state’s anti-corruption agency cannot be invalidated on the ground that CBI was not involved.

Dismissing the SLP, the apex court said the high court had taken the “correct view” in holding that it was wrong to suggest that only CBI could institute prosecution in such cases.

The Supreme Court bench said that while the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, under which CBI was constituted, gives the central agency the power to investigate corruption cases involving central government employees, it does not take away the power of the state police to probe cognisable offences under other competent laws, reported Hindustan Times.

The court added that as per Section 156 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), any officer in charge of a police station can investigate a cognisable offence without prior permission of a magistrate and such actions cannot be questioned on the ground of lack of investigative authority.

This article went live on January twenty-first, two thousand twenty six, at fifteen minutes past eleven in the morning.

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