The Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s anti-corruption bureaus (ACBs) and empowered state police personnel have the authority to prosecute central government officials for corruption and there is no need for any approval or consent from the CBI.
The ruling is expected to bring cheer to non-NDA-ruled states, which often complain that the Centre has overarching powers and that it uses the ED and the CBI to target them.
A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma passed the ruling on Monday, with the official order uploaded on Tuesday.
“The finding that the ACB of the state of Rajasthan has jurisdiction to register the criminal case under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, despite the fact that the accused is an employee of the Central Government. The High Court has taken the correct view while saying that it is incorrect to say that it is only the CBI
who could have instituted the prosecution,” the Supreme Court said.
“The existence of a special law by itself cannot be taken to exclude the operation of CrPC. Unless the special law expressly or impliedly provides a separate provision for investigation, the general provision under Section 156 of CrPC shall prevail,” it added.
The bench passed the ruling while dismissing the appeal of Nawal Kishore Meena challenging the concurrent findings of a single-judge bench and a division bench of Rajasthan High Court rejecting his claim that a central government employee cannot be prosecuted by the state’s anti-corruption bureau.
The question before Rajasthan High Court was
with regard to the following two issues:
n Whether the state anti-corruption bureau has the jurisdiction to register a criminal case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against a central government official posted in Rajasthan and then conduct an investigation and submit a chargesheet. Does such jurisdiction lie exclusively with the CBI and its
approval is needed to proceed in such cases?
n Can a chargesheet that the state’s anti-corruption bureau has filed against a central government official before a court without obtaining the CBI’s approval be considered valid in law?
The high court had ruled there was no embargo on the state ACB or police to prosecute a central government employee for graft and no prior consent or approval of the CBI was required.
Interpreting the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act and earlier judgments of the Supreme Court, the apex court said the “PC Act can be investigated into by the state agency or by the central agency or by any police agency as can be seen from Section 17 of the said Act with the qualification that the police officer shall be of a particular rank”.
“Section 17 does not exclude or prevent the state police or a special agency of the state from registering a crime or investigating cases relating to bribery, corruption and misconduct against central government employees,” the court said.