February 19, 2019:
The premier investigating agency is authorised to investigation corruption & matters of national importance.
In a message to high courts, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the highest courts in states have limited power to order CBI probe as the premier investigating agency was created to investigate corruption & cases of national importance.
Setting aside a Madhya Pradesh HC order directing CBI probe into theft of a machine from Indore’s Raja Ramana Centre for Advanced Technology, under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Union government, a bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi & Justice Sanjiv Sen said, “The HC’s jurisdiction to order CBI probe cannot be doubted but it is extremely limited keeping mind the fact that the premier investigating agency is authorised to investigation corruption & matters of national importance.”
The machine, worth Rs 5 lakh, was stolen from Raja Ramana Centre in 2004. MP police had investigated the case & filed a closure report but the trial court on April 28, 2005, rejected the report & directed the police to carry out further investigations.
Acting on a petition, the HC in May 2017 had ordered CBI probe saying the matter involved a serious crime in which the state police had not been able to make any headway.
The CBI had challenged the HC order before the Supreme Court . Setting aside the HC order, the CJI led bench said, “Given the nature of functioning of the CBI, the HC was not justified in ordering CBI probe into such a matter.”
On February 17, 2010, while dealing with a case relating to the Calcutta HC order directing CBI probe into the alleged murder of TMC workers in Midnapore, a fivejudge constitution bench of the SC had answered the question “whether high courts could order CBI probe into a crime committed within the state without the state government’s consent”. Source Link
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