Seven years ago, the Central Bureau of Investigation had earned the label of “caged parrot”, which executes the agenda of its political masters. The United Progressive Alliance sat in Delhi at the time. Little has changed since; the CBI’s activities since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government came to power are being perceived as more ‘parrot’-like than ever. The Supreme Court has now said that the CBI cannot conduct an investigation within the jurisdiction of a state without permission from the state government. The CBI is a Central agency, created in 1963 under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946. The court pointed to the federal principle underlying its recent ruling that had been inscribed into the rules governing the CBI at the time of its formation. The investigative agency is free to operate in Delhi and the Union territories but, being at basis Delhi special police, needs permission from the states to carry out its work within state boundaries. This is also because ‘police’ is part of the state list in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Only the Supreme Court and high courts can order the CBI to operate within a state without its government’s consent.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in response to a petition by certain officers from Uttar Pradesh endorses the stand taken by eight Opposition-ruled states which have withdrawn the general consent given to the CBI to operate within their jurisdictions. This option is given by Section 6 of the DPSE Act and means that the CBI must ask for the state government’s consent for each case separately: blanket permission has been withdrawn. As the earlier “caged parrot” appellation indicates, ruling Central governments have quite often used the CBI against their political opponents. The withdrawal of general consent by Opposition-ruled states, including West Bengal, not only brings this out into the open but also suggests that the CBI is being perceived as being more assiduous than usual in carrying out the ‘master’s’ orders. More ominous still is the distrust towards the Centre that these state governments feel, evidence of the divisiveness that is causing untold damage to India’s democratic edifice. The Supreme Court’s endorsement of a federal principle at this moment gains importance in this context. It is a thrust towards balance in an increasingly uneven power structure.