No entry: Rajasthan withdraws general consent for CBI investigations amid political crisis

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.

Rajasthan crisis: The Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan has withdrawn all previous general consents given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which will now have to seek state permission to investigate “any offence or class of offence”. In a notification issued on Sunday, the state government said that the central government in November 1989 had sought a fresh general consent from the Government of Rajasthan, which had refused and the decision was conveyed in June 1990.

“This incorporates the formal stand of the State Government that the Government of Rajasthan does not accord general consent…for investigation of any offences of class of offences under section 3 of (DSPE Act, 1946) by the Delhi Special Police Establishment (CBI) and each case,” the notification said.

With this, now the CBI will have to take prior permission of the state government to investigate any offence in Rajasthan. “In view of revocation of all previous general consents, prior consent of Government of Rajasthan shall be required to be taken on a case-to-case basis for investigation of any offence,” the state government stated in the notification.

(Story to be updated)