The Delhi High Court has ruled that the Central Bureau of Investigation need not seek prior permission of any other State for investigation under the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act if consent has been taken from the State where the case is registered.
A Bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel said, “If in every such case the investigation is stalled because of absence of sanction of a particular State other than the State where the case is registered, then the scheme of Sections 5 and 6 of the DSPE Act and their purpose would be defeated.”
“The purpose of the provisions of the DSPE Act is to facilitate the CBI in carrying out its investigations. It would, therefore, be counter-intuitive if the task of the CBI is frustrated beyond the point of practicality,” it remarked.
The issue arose in the context of the steps taken by the CBI to investigate a case registered in New Delhi last year. The agency had earlier registered the two cases against B.L. Agarwal, the then Health Secretary and present Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Chhattisgarh.
The CBI had said that Mr. Agarwal, an IAS officer of 1988 batch, had already obtained clearance from present Principal Secretary for his inclusion in the list of IAS officers of 1988 batch empanelled for Central deputation. However, pendency of the two cases were a stumbling block and Mr Agarwal wanted the CBI to close the cases. One O.P. Sharma, who claimed to be working with the Prime Minister’s Office, had claimed that he could settled the case on payment of ₹1.5 crore to the public servant concerned.
The petition had sought to declare as invalid an April 2001 notification issued by the Central government extending the powers and jurisdiction of the members of the DSPE to the whole of Chhattisgarh for investigation of offences.
The CBI took the stand that the criminal conspiracy in the present case was entered into between the accused in Delhi.
It submitted that as long as the offence is committed in Delhi and the case was validly registered by the CBI in Delhi, it did not matter if the investigation pursuant to the said offence is carried on in other States without the prior sanction of those States under Section 6 DSPE Act.