Telangana government withdrew all its previous general consents to CBI probe in the state through a Government Order (GO) dated 30 August. Withdrawal of the blanket consent means that the central investigating agency would require the state government’s permission before probing any case including the alleged poaching of TRS MLAs as demanded by the Telangana unit of BJP. The GO issued in August was not in the public domain and the state government’s decision came to light only in the High Court during the hearing of the writ petition filed by BJP seeking CBI or judicial inquiry into the allegations of poaching. The additional advocate general of the state government informed the court of the state government’s decision. Telangana is the ninth state to withdraw the general consent to the CBI. Non BJP chief ministers have accused the Centre of unleashing CBI, ED and income tax on opposition leaders.
The GO read: Government of Telangana hereby withdraws all previous general consents issued by the state government under section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act,1946 (Central Act), vide any letters or notifications including the notification issued in GO MS No.160, Home (SC) department on September 23, 2016 to all the members of Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise the powers and jurisdiction under the said Act in the state of Telangana.” It further stated that henceforth CBI would require prior consent on a case to case basis for any investigation in any kind of offence.