Why in News? 

• Meghalaya has withdrawn consent to the CBI to investigate cases in the state, becoming the ninth state to have taken this step.

What is general consent?

• The CBI is governed by The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, and it must mandatorily obtain the consent of the state government concerned before beginning to investigate a crime in a state.
• Section 6 of The DSPE Act (“Consent of State Government to exercise of powers and jurisdiction”) says: “Nothing contained in section 5 (titled “Extension of powers and jurisdiction of special police establishment to other areas”) shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union territory or railway area, without the consent of the Government of that State.”
• The CBI’s position is in this respect different from that of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is governed by The NIA Act, 2008, and has jurisdiction across the country.
• The consent of the state government to CBI can be either case-specific or general.
• General consent is normally given by states to help the CBI in seamless investigation of cases of corruption against central government employees in their states.
• This is consent by default, in the absence of which the CBI would have to apply to the state government in every case, and before taking even small actions.

What does the withdrawal of general consent mean?

• It means the CBI will not be able to register any fresh case involving officials of the central government or a private person in the state without the consent of the state government.

Reference:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-kavach-the-indian-technology-that-can-prevent-two-trains-from-colliding-7801295/