SC reserves verdict on law protecting babus from probe in

The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the law which makes it mandatory for prior approval of competent authority for CBI to probe joint secretary and above-ranked officials.
"Has the protective provision to safeguard senior bureaucrats from not being inquired without government sanction resulted in better governance," a five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice R M Lodha observed.
The remarks were made by the bench while the Centre was defending Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPEA), which protects top bureaucrats from being investigated in corruption cases without prior approval.

"This (Section 6A) has been there for last 15 years. Has it improved governance? Tell us frankly. We can take judicial notice of it," the bench, also comprising justices A K Patnaik, S J Mukhopadhaya, Dipak Misra and F M I Kalifulla noted when Additional Solicitor General K V Vishwanath was making submission in favour of section 6A of the DSPEA.
The Centre also maintained that arbitrariness in enacting the law cannot be the ground for striking down the provision.
However, the bench said it was mainly concerned with the constitutional validity of Section 6A and if at all the question of arbitrariness arises, it has to be determined by a larger bench of seven judges.

The ASG submitted that the government does not want to protect any corrupt public official and the provision is only to ensure that senior bureaucrat are not quizzed without adequate safeguards as they are involved in policy making.