CBI has largely become toothless in nine states of the country including Jharkhand. This became apparent after Union Minister Jitendra Singh made a statement on the floor of the Parliament on Wednesday.

In reply to a question, Singh said, nine states have withdrawn ‘general consent’ given to the Central Bureau of Investigation for probing certain offenses.

In fact. ‘general consent', as the words suggest, allows CBI to operate seamlessly within states. In contrast, if the CBI does not have the general consent of a state government, it is required to apply for consent on a case-by-case basis and can not act before the consent is given.

Legally, as per Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment(DSPE) Act,1946, the CBI needs consent from the respective state governments to conduct investigations in their jurisdiction, Minister Singh replied to a written question in Lok Sabha.

In terms of the provision of section 6 of the DSPE Act, 1946, the state governments have granted general consent to the CBI for the investigation of a specified class of offences against specified categories of persons, enabling the agency to register and investigate those specified matters, Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, said.

However, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana and West Bengal have withdrawn general consent to the CBI to investigate cases, he added.