Bengal's suit against CBI probes despite withdrawal of consent is maintainable: SC

In a key development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 10) held that the suit filed by the West Bengal government against the Union over CBI continuing probes despite the state's withdrawal of general consent maintainable.

The West Bengal government had withdrawn its consent on November 16, 2018.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said the state's suit shall proceed in accordance with law on its own merits. It also rejected the argument taken by the Union that the state had suppressed material facts in the plaint. It fixed the matter for hearing on August 13 for framing of issues.

The apex court had on May 8 reserved its verdict on the maintainability of the suit filed by the state.

West Bengal state's arguments

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for West Bengal, had argued that once the state had withdrawn its consent on November 16, 2018, the Centre could not allow the probe agency to enter the state for investigation.

The bench said it is the case of the state that after the withdrawal of general consent for the CBI in 2018, the agency could not have continued to register FIRs in respect of the offences within the state.

The state also contended that the CBI is functioning under the Central government's guidance. The bench stated while orally reading out the operative portion, "We find the present suit is raising a legal issue whether after the withdrawal of the general consent, the CBI can continue to register FIRs and investigate cases in violation of section 6 of DSPE act..."

The bench stated that the suit will proceed and its present findings are only for the purpose of determining the maintainability and will have no bearing on deciding the suit finally.

Union government responds

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, had said that the Union government or its departments do not exercise any supervisory control over Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probes.

Mehta also argued that the suit has been filed against the Union, however, the latter has not registered any case and the same has been done by the CBI. He also stressed that the CBI is an independent legal person and has a separate legal identity outside the Union of India.

The Centre had raised preliminary objections about the maintainability of the lawsuit filed by the West Bengal government, contending that there was no cause of action against the Union of India.

Secondly, Mehta argued that the facts were suppressed. He pointed out that the FIRs, as shown in the suit, also contained the ones registered by the CBI following the order of the High Court.

Bengal files suit under Article 131

The West Bengal government has filed an original suit in the apex court against the Centre under Article 131 of the Constitution, alleging that the CBI has been filing FIRs and proceeding with investigations despite the state having withdrawn the general consent to the federal agency to probe cases within its territorial jurisdiction.

Article 131 deals with the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction in a dispute between the Centre and one or more states.

(With inputs from agencies)