Meghalaya withdraws general consent to CBI.

Why in news

• Meghalaya has become the ninth state of the country to withdraw consent to CBI to investigate cases in the state.

About general consent

• The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, governs the CBI and it is mandatory to obtain the concerned state government’s consent before beginning to investigate a crime in a state.
• States typically give a general consent to assist the CBI in conducting a seamless investigation of cases of corruption involving central government personnel in their states.
• This is consent by default otherwise CBI would have to seek permission from the state government in every case, even for small tasks.

Withdrawal of consent

• It means that the CBI will not be able to file any new cases involving central government officials or private persons in the state without the permission of the state government.
• CBI officers who will be entering the state that has withdrawn consent will lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state unless they have received permission from the government of the state.
• Before Meghalaya, the eight other states that had withdrawn consent to the CBI are Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, and Kerala.
• The first state to withdraw consent was Mizoram which did so in 2015.