Calcutta high court criticises CBI for stand on 2022 bank case in Bengal
The banks asked CBI to investigate the irregularities in March 2022 in line with RBI guidelines since the money involved was more than ₹6 crore
KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court on Monday criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for not conducting a preliminary probe into allegations of financial irregularities in two public sector banks.
“The CBI doesn’t want to work and is hence behaving like this. Has the CBI in West Bengal become like this?” a bench of justice Tirthankar Ghosh said on Monday..
The banks asked CBI to investigate the irregularities in March 2022 in line with the Reserve Bank of India guidelines since the amount of money involved in the alleged crime was more than ₹6 crore. The bank told CBI that it suspected the involvement of some employees as well.
CBI, however, didn’t register a regular case on the ground that the federal agency needed the state government’s consent to register such a case.
“So far as the reasons given by the CBI on August 7, 2024 to the regional manager (of the bank), the same is not acceptable by this court. CBI is directed to proceed in accordance with law after they interact with the bank officers,” the bench said.
To be sure, the state government withdrew its general consent to CBI on November 16, 2018. This has been challenged by the Centre and the matter is being heard by the Supreme Court.
The court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry and communicate the outcome to the bank.
Justice Ghosh said no consent was required to register cases against officers of the central government and its public sector undertakings, citing the January 2 verdict of the Supreme Court on an appeal filed by CBI against the Andhra Pradesh high court.
In this verdict, a two-judge bench of the top court overturned the Andhra Pradesh high court order quashing CBI investigations against two central government employees over corruption. The bench said both were employees of the central government and had allegedly committed serious offence under Prevention of Corruption Act, which was a central act.