The Supreme Court has said that constitutional courts should not order a CBI inquiry in a routine way. It must be used only sparingly and with caution.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi said this while cancelling an order from the Allahabad High Court. The High Court had asked for a CBI probe into alleged wrongdoings in hiring staff for the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.
The top court said that using inherent powers to order a CBI investigation must be done sparingly, cautiously, and only in exceptional cases.
"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. The concerned court 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 a central agency," the bench said.
The Supreme Court said an order for CBI investigation should be a last resort. It is justified only when the court is sure that the process's integrity has been damaged.
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"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.
"In the absence of such compelling factors, the principle of judicial restraint demands that the court must refrain from interfering," the bench said.
The top court said constitutional courts must show judicial restraint. They should not burden a special central agency like CBI with cases that do not meet the standards for an exceptional case.
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