NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra government and its former home minister Anil Deshmukh moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking stay of the Bombay HC order for a CBI probe into former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh’s allegations against the minister of extortion, bribes for transfers and interference in investigations into important criminal cases.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government told the SC that the HC’s order breached the norms of federal structure of governance by entrusting the probe into Singh’s allegations to a central agency, thus indirectly suggesting that Mumbai police or the inquiry committee headed by a former Bombay HC judge were not competent to inquire into the allegations.
The state government said that given the political situation in the country, where central agencies were often misused to destabilise non-BJP governments in states, the HC’s decision to entrust the preliminary probe into Singh's allegations could provide a handle to the Union government to wreak vengeance. Though Shiv Sena had contested the Maharashtra elections as a BJP partner, it broke ranks and formed the government in coalition with NCP and Congress.
It said the HC should have taken note of the fact that the Maharashtra government had withdrawn general consent for CBI probe into cases within the state. It said the HC erred by directing a CBI probe through an interim order. Though the HC and the SC had powers to direct CBI probe even when a state had withdrawn general consent, it could be done only after hearing all parties and through a final order, the Maharashtra government said.