CBI will no longer require Bengal govt’s permission to act against corrupt officers

Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will no longer require prior permission from the West Bengal government to initiate a probe against government officials involved in corruption in the state. This was announced by the state government on Wednesday.

The previous Trinamool Congress-led state government withdrew the “standing clearance” to the CBI for initiating suo motu probes in graft cases. Hence, earlier, the CBI could initiate any probe in the state only if it was court-ordered or court-cleared.

However, the new and ninth Chief Minister of West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, on Wednesday, announced that the state government led by him had decided to reinstate that “standing clearance” to the CBI, following which the central investigating agency will no longer have to wait for the state government’s clearance to initiate any probe against any government officer involved in corruption.

Meanwhile, speaking on his decision to retain his chair as the legislator from Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in South Kolkata, while quitting from the Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district, Adhikari said although he will no longer remain the legislator from Nandigram, but the people of the constituency who elected him simultaneously this time would never feel his absence.

“As per Constitutional norms, I will have to quit as the legislator either from Bhabanipur or from Nandigram. I have decided to retain Bhabanipur. But the people of Nandigram will never be deprived of my attention. I had been associated with the development activities at Nandigram even when I was not an MLA from there. The new MLA from Nandigram will surely concentrate on the development at Nandigram. At the same time, my personal attention will always be there on Nandigram,” Adhikari said.

Adhikari had been elected from Nandigram thrice, once as a Trinamool Congress candidate and twice as a BJP candidate. In 2016, he got elected for the first time from Nandigram as a Trinamool Congress candidate and became the transport minister in the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Cabinet.

Before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections Adhikari joined the BJP and contested as a candidate from Nandigram and he got elected by defeating then-sitting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by a little less than 2,000 votes.

Later, she got elected in a bye-election from Bhabanipur and retained her chair as the West Bengal Chief Minister for the third-consecutive term.

In 2026, Adhikari got elected simultaneously from Nandigram and Bhabanipur and at Bhabanipur he again defeated Mamata Banerjee by a margin of over 15,000 votes.

IANS