Calcutta High Court directs CBI to start probe, says state sanction not needed

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the CBI to conduct preliminary enquiry and begin investigation in relation to alleged fraud in two public sector banks.

After the CBI counsel said the obstruction in initiating a probe at present is the pending sanction from the state, the bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh clarified that the Central agency does not need state government’s consent to register cases in respect of central government offices/officers, Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) offices/officers, as also other statutory organisations having trapping of PSUs.

The court directed that the law is settled in this respect. The bench directed CBI would conduct preliminary enquiry and communicate with the bank if there are any deficiencies in compliance with other directions of Supreme Court, particularly if they have reservations in respect of registering the case pursuant to the apex court judgement in the Rajesh Agarwal case. “Bank authorities would immediately clarify that. The same would be part and parcel of the preliminary enquiry to be conducted by the CBI. After enquiry, CBI will proceed in accordance with law according to their manual,” the bench said.

CBI informed that in case of SBI, a public servant is involved. Hence, the state’s sanction was sought from the chief secretary. Counsel for UCO bank informed the court that a communication from CBI said that the consent of the state government is required for registration of case by CBI. Hence, the Central agency has not registered any FIR on the basis of the complaint lodged.