CBI to seek legal opinion in wake of Gauhati HC verdict

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday has decided to seek a legal opinion in the wake of the Gauhati high court’s decision to quash the Union home ministry resolution by which the CBI was constituted way back in 1963.

‘We are taking a legal opinion on the Gauhati high court order and thereafter will move the Department of Personnel and Training for taking appropriate action in the apex court,’ CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said on Friday.

CBI chief Ranjit Sinha said, ‘We are studying the order of the Gauhati high court and will submit our opinion to Department of Personnel and Training. We are definitely seeking an urgent action on the situation.’

The Gauhati high court held that the CBI was neither an organ nor part of the Delhi Special Police Establishment and therefore, could not be treated as a ‘police force’ constituted under the DSPE Act.

In their 89-page judgment, Justices IA Ansari and Indira Shah had said, ‘While we decline to hold and declare that the DSPE Act, 1946 is not a valid piece of legislation, we do hold that the CBI is neither an organ nor part of the DSPE and the CBI cannot be treated as a police force constituted under the DSPE Act, 1946.’

Earlier, minister of state for personnel V Narayanasamy had said, ‘Definitely, we will have to (file appeal against HC order).’