The new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal has cleared all pending sanction requests from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), paving the way for long-delayed trials in high-profile cases.
The government has also restored the general consent for prosecution, which was revoked by the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) regime in 2018.
Since 2018, the CBI had received 42 prosecution sanction requests under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, but the previous government had refused to entertain them.
The cleared requests include cases related to the alleged irregularities and bribery in the recruitment of state government teachers and staff in 2016, as well as the municipality jobs scandal.
The CBI had been hobbled in West Bengal by the previous government's withdrawal of its general consent for investigations, which meant that the agency could not register new cases or conduct investigations without prior approval.
However, with the restoration of general consent, the CBI can now investigate cases without needing consent from the state government.
