Ordering CBI probe should be the last resort, not routine: SC

NEW DELHI: Cautioning high courts, and itself, against routinely ordering CBI probes, Supreme Court on Thursday said courts should invoke their power to direct an inquiry by the central agency as a last resort in an exceptional situation.A bench of justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi set aside Allahabad high court’s order directing a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment process for UP legislative council staff, saying the order was passed by HC on the basis of some doubt and assumptions. The bench also referred the matter back to the high court for a rehearing.“It is well settled that directions for CBI inquiry should not be ordered by the high courts or this court in a routine manner.

The jurisprudence, as developed by this court through judgments qua the direction of an investigation by CBI is well settled. It imposes a significant self-restraint on the exercise of this extraordinary constitutional power under Article 32 or Article 226 of the Constitution. The exercise of inherent powers to direct CBI to investigate must be exercised sparingly, cautiously and only in exceptional situations,” Justice Maheshwari, who penned the judgment for the bench, said.

“This court has consistently cautioned that a CBI investigation should not be directed as a matter of routine or merely because a party casts certain aspersions or harbours a subjective lack of confidence in the state police. It goes without saying that for invoking this power, the court concerned must be satisfied that the material placed prima facie discloses commission of offences and necessitates a CBI investigation to ensure the fundamental right to a fair and impartial investigation, or where the complexity, scale or national ramification of such allegations demands expertise of central agency,” he said.The bench said while there was no inflexible guideline to decide when such power should be exercised, courts may do it when a case had national or international ramifications. Interestingly, a bench headed by Justice Maheshwari, through an interim order on Monday, had directed CBI to probe the Karur stampede case in Tamil Nadu.Cautioning against burdening a central agency with matters that do not satisfy the threshold of an exceptional case, SC added: “An order directing an investigation to be carried out by CBI should be treated as a measure of last resort, justified only when the constitutional court is convinced that the integrity of the process has been compromised or has reasons to believe that it may get compromised to a degree that shakes the conscience of courts or public faith in the justice delivery system.

”“Such compelling circumstances may typically arise when the materials brought in notice of the court prima facie point towards systemic failure, the involvement of high-ranking state officials or politically influential persons, or when the local police’s conduct itself creates a reasonable doubt in the minds of the citizenry regarding their ability to conduct a neutral probe,” the bench said.