The Central Bureau of Investigation sleuths probing the Railway Recruitment Board scam couldn’t make much headway in the case of Mumbai RRB chief Mr S. M. Sharma thanks to a provision in the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act which makes government sanction mandatory before registering an FIR against an officer of the rank of joint-secretary or above under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Though the CBI allegedly found incriminating evidence against Mr Sharma, they couldn’t register an FIR against him due to Section 6A of the DSPE Act as Mr Sharma is an officer of the joint-secretary rank.
On June 17, the CBI had written to the Centre seeking permission for initiating investigation against Mr Sharma after the arrest of his son Mr Vivek Bhardwaja. Sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation said that the agency is still awaiting the Centre’s nod and this delay in obtaining permission is having a negative impact on the investigations as in several cases the accused get enough time to manipulate various aspects of the case.
A Central Bureau of Investigation official said, “Earlier, in several cases the accused tried to seek a discharge from the case on technical grounds by raising the issue that the mandatory provision of Section 6A was not complied by the CBI.”
Section 6A was inserted in 2003 with an intention of safeguarding public servants against mala fide and unwarranted investigations.