E-Paper
Telangana govt withdraws general consent to CBI; 9th state to do so
The general consent allows the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate a case without the approval of the state government
Telangana has become the ninth state in India to withdraw general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register and investigate cases in the state. The general consent allows CBI to investigate a case without the approval of the state government.
The order to this effect was issued by the state government on August 30, but it became public on Sunday when the additional advocate general (AAG) informed the Telangana high court that the general consent has been withdrawn during a hearing on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) petition seeking a CBI probe into allegation of poaching of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MLAs.
With the order, prior consent of the state government will be required for CBI to investigate any cases in Telangana.
The TRS has alleged that the BJP was trying to poach four of its MLAs and three persons were arrested in this regard. On Saturday, they were remanded into judicial custody for two weeks.
“The government here withdraws all previous general consents issued by the state government under Section 6 of the Delhi Police Establishment Act, 1946, vide any letters and notifications issued including notification issued on 25.09.2016 to all members of Delhi Police Establishment Act to exercise the powers and jurisdiction under the state Act in the state of Telangana,” the order said.
Before Telangana, eight other states including West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have withdrawn general consent to CBI. Maharashtra had earlier withdrawn consent but later revoked the order.
The Opposition parties have been accusing the BJP-led central government of using the central investigative agencies against its political opponents, a charge the BJP has refuted several times saying the agencies were working in a “fair” manner.
The Telangana order comes at the time when the BJP is trying to make inroads into Telangana, where the TRS has been in power since the state was formed in 2014 from Andhra Pradesh. Assembly elections are slated for Telangana in October-November 2023.
The BJP has also dragged Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kavitha’s name into the Delhi excise policy controversy, which is being probed by CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The Telangana chief minister has already announced his national ambition by rechristening TRS into Bharat Rashtra Samiti and said he would be looking at non-Congress and non-BJP alliance of Opposition parties, something he tried before 2019 Lok Sabha elections and failed.
