Thiruvananthapuram, November 05: Following Maharashtra, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government withdraw the general consent accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe cases without prior permission.

 

With this decision Thiruvananthapuram has now joined the list of non-BJP ruled states, and become the fifth state after Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh to withdraw the general consent accorded to the CBI to exercise its powers under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.

 

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, an official statement here said.

 

In the release, it said, "We have decided to withdraw the general consent given to the CBI, through the notifications under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946."

 

“The central agency would be entrusted with the investigation of cases in necessary situations, only with the special permission of the state government,” it added.

 

With this CBI will now need the state’s permission to carry out any investigation in the state however, it will not affect the cases that CBI is already looking into in Kerala.

 

This comes after the central agency registered a case of alleged financial irregularities in the state’s project to build free houses for the homeless, called Life Mission, without informing the Kerala government. After which Government objected to the CBI investigation against the Chief Executive Officer of the LIFE Mission, and they rush to the high court to quash a CBI probe of Life Mission and secured a two-month stay.

 

Moreover, the CBI is currently probing for a gold smuggling case and a drug haul in Bengaluru in the state.

 

Earlier last month the Maharashtra government withdrew the general consent it extended to the probe agency to conduct a probe in the state after the CBI filed a case to investigate the rating scam based on a complaint filed in BJP-ruled Uttar Prades