CBI does not require permission to probe pre-2014 cases too: SC

Source: The post is based on the article “CBI does not require permission to probe pre-2014 cases too: SC”  published in The Hindu on 12th September 2023

What is the News?

A Constitution Bench held that a Supreme Court judgment of 2014 which declared Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act invalid has a retrospective effect.

What is Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act?

Section 6A of the DSPE Act was added in 2003 through Section 26 of the Central Vigilance Commission Act(CVCA).

The section mandated the government’s prior sanction to proceed in corruption cases against officers of the rank of joint secretary and above. 

However, an exception provided in Section 6A(2) states that no approval is necessary for cases involving arrest of a person on the spot on the charge of accepting or attempting to accept a bribe.

In 2014, a five-judge Constitution Bench struck down Section 6A of the DSPE Act, ruling that status or position cannot shield an officer of the level of joint secretary and above from an unconstrained probe by the CBI in cases of corruption. 

This court termed Section 6A a “discriminatory” provision that “impedes tracking down the corrupt senior bureaucrats”. 

But the 2014 ruling did not clarify what would happen to existing cases being probed by the CBI 

Therefore, a constitution bench was constituted to examine whether the 2014 decision would affect existing corruption cases.

What did the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court rule?

The main question before the constitution bench was related to the applicability of Section 6A in DSPE Act.

The constitution bench held that the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling which struck down Section 6A of the DSPE Act will apply retrospectively.

This means that there would be no protection to the public servants on the premise of a sanction under Section 6A in pre-2014 cases.