The government on Saturday moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the Gauhati high court (HC) verdict questioning Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) legal foundation.
The government, in its appeal, said the HC order would have an impact on about nine thousand trials currently underway and about one thousand cases which the CBI was investigating.
Requesting an immediate stay on the HC ruling, the government said the judgment would have serious ramifications on the functioning of the CBI, which had stood the test of time.
Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam will hear the matter at 4.30pm at his residence. Attorney general of India GE Vahanvati will be present during the hearing.
The CBI has been functioning since 1963 and has a staff of about 6,000 people — all of whom are engaged in the investigation and prosecution of various cases.
“The high court has erred in holding that the constitution of the CBI was illegal,” the government said before the apex court.
Earlier on Friday, minister of state for personnel, V Narayanasamy, whose ministry has the administrative control over the CBI, had said, “ We will tell the SC that the CBI was set up under a resolution in 1963 and it has been there for the last 50 years. So, it should be allowed to continue. CBI is handling a lot of sensitive cases. This will affect its functioning.”
The HC verdict has far-reaching implications for high-profile cases such as the 2G, Commonwealth Games and Coalgate scams being probed/prosecuted by the CBI.
In a curious judgment, the Gauhati HC had on Thursday struck down the resolution through which the CBI was set up and held all its actions as “unconstitutional”.
The judgment by the division bench comprising justices IA Ansari and Indira Shah came on a writ petition filed by one Navendra Kumar challenging an order by a single judge of the HC in 2007 on the resolution through which CBI was set up.
The government, in its appeal, said the HC order would have an impact on about nine thousand trials currently underway and about one thousand cases which the CBI was investigating.
Requesting an immediate stay on the HC ruling, the government said the judgment would have serious ramifications on the functioning of the CBI, which had stood the test of time.
Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam will hear the matter at 4.30pm at his residence. Attorney general of India GE Vahanvati will be present during the hearing.
The CBI has been functioning since 1963 and has a staff of about 6,000 people — all of whom are engaged in the investigation and prosecution of various cases.
“The high court has erred in holding that the constitution of the CBI was illegal,” the government said before the apex court.
Earlier on Friday, minister of state for personnel, V Narayanasamy, whose ministry has the administrative control over the CBI, had said, “ We will tell the SC that the CBI was set up under a resolution in 1963 and it has been there for the last 50 years. So, it should be allowed to continue. CBI is handling a lot of sensitive cases. This will affect its functioning.”
The HC verdict has far-reaching implications for high-profile cases such as the 2G, Commonwealth Games and Coalgate scams being probed/prosecuted by the CBI.
In a curious judgment, the Gauhati HC had on Thursday struck down the resolution through which the CBI was set up and held all its actions as “unconstitutional”.
The judgment by the division bench comprising justices IA Ansari and Indira Shah came on a writ petition filed by one Navendra Kumar challenging an order by a single judge of the HC in 2007 on the resolution through which CBI was set up.
Defending the CBI in the apex court, the government said, “It (the Gauhati HC) has failed to appreciate the validity of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPE), which has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in series of cases …The CBI, set up under the DSPE Act, could not be said to be lacking constitutional validity.”
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