The Supreme Court on Friday sought to know from the Centre whether the Constitution forbids a centralised, specialised investigating agency such as FBI in the US, even though policing and law and order might be kept reserved with the state administration.

The Centre, on its part, agreed to consider the feasibility of such an agency and assured the court that it would come back with appropriate instructions in this regard.

Law and order has been listed as a state subject in the Constitution and it is supposed to primarily be the responsibility of a state government to have its own set of regulations for policing. The central government, usually, does not interfere with the status of law and order in a state.

However, a bench led by Justice T S Thakur embarked on the idea of having an FBI-like agency while noting that investigation was an aspect meant to be kept separate from policing.

“Why can’t we have an agency like FBI? FBI investigates cases irrespective of the jurisdiction of states and districts in the US, only on the basis of seriousness of a crime. We have also laid down in our judgement that investigation must be separated from law and order. So, why cannot an FBI-like agency be created in India to investigate across the country?” asked the bench.

The SC was hearing a petition by retired IPS officer Prakash Singh, on whose PIL the apex court had in 2006 issued a slew of guidelines related to police reforms.

“Separation of investigation from law and order is most critical. It is the core. We are saying it since we fear the whole system will collapse

if it is not done. It is also a very important aspect from the point of the judiciary,” said the bench.

While amicus in the case, senior advocate Harish Salve, pointed out that creation of such a centralised agency might face severe opposition from the states, the bench sought to examine the feasibility of this proposition on the touchstone of constitutional validity.

In the wake of objections to the state government’s own Police Acts, the bench sought to know if there could be one law on this subject and if the Centre could promulgate it in view of the directions issued in the Prakash Singh case.

It, however, clarified that the court was not asking the Centre to do so but wanted to know if this was within the authority of the central government.

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