Supreme Court of India

Vineet Narain and Ors v. Union of India and Anr.

Neutral citation

Reported as [1997] SUPP. 6 S.C.R. 595

Bench J.S. Verma J.

Decided 18 December 1997

INSC stands for INDIAN SUPREME COURT. A neutral citation scheme assigned by the Court itself, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter. INSC is the neutral citation scheme assigned by the Supreme Court, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter.

38 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

We are of the view that the time for these drastic steps has not come.

Judgment, page 58

From the headnote

Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, Ss. 3, 4( 1 )-Single Direc- tive No. 4. 7(3 )-Powers of investigation of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)-Requirement of prior sanction of Secretary of concerned Ministry before any enquiry is instituted against officials at decision-making levels of govemment-Validity of-Held, Single Directive strnck down as not valid-Not pennissible as exercise of power of superintendence of Central Govemment under s.4(1) DSPE Act-Fwther held, power of CBI to investigate offences cannot be cwtailed by executive instmction-Police Act 1861, s.3.

Authorities it was built on

1997 Vishaka and Ors. v. State of Rajasthan and Ors. cited by 70
1991 K. Veeraswami v. Union of India and Others cited by 53

Where later benches applied it

2025 Ajay Malik v. State of Uttarakhand & Anr. relied on
2023 Kaushal Kishor v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. relied on
2021 Lok Prahari through its General Secretary S.N. Shukla Ias (retd.) v. Union of India & Ors. relied on
2019 Alok Kumar Verma v. Union of India & Anr. relied on
2018 Lok Prahari through its General Secretary v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. relied on
2014 Dr. Subramanian Swamy v. Director, Centeral Bureau of Investigation & Anr. relied on
2013 Sushila Devi v. State of Rajasthan and Ors. relied on
2012 Court on its Own Motion v. Union of India & Ors. relied on
2012 Adarsh Shiksha Mahavidyalaya and Others v. Subhash Rahangdale and Others relied on
2011 Delhi Jal Board v. National Campaign for Dignity and Rights of Sewerage and Allied Workers & Others relied on
2025 Suneeti Toteja v. State of U.P. & Another referred to
2024 The State of West Bengal v. Union of India referred to
2023 Dr. Jaya Thakur v. Union of India & Ors referred to
2023 Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India referred to
2022 Vijay Rajmohan v. State Represented by the Inspector of Police, Cbi, Acb, Chennai, Tamil Nadu referred to
2022 Vijay Madanlal Choudhary & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2021 Bureau of Investigation (cbi) and Anr. v. Thommandru Hannah Vijayalakshmi @ T. H. Vijayalakshmi and Anr. referred to
2020 Arnab Manoranjan Goswami v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. referred to
2020 Nisha Priya Bhatia v. Union of India & Anr. referred to
2019 Dr. Ashwani Kumar v. Union of India and Another referred to
2019 The State of Tamil Nadu & Ors. v. Elephant G. Rajendran & Ors. Etc. referred to
2019 Common Cause & Anr v. Union of India & Anr. referred to
2018 Common Cause (a Regd. Society) & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2017 Girlsh Kumar Suneja v. C.B.L. referred to
2017 State of Jharkhand through Sp, Cbi v. Lalu Prasad @ Lalu Prasad Y Aday referred to
2017 Dr. T. P. Senkumar Ips v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2015 Krishnamoorthy v. Sivakumar & Ors. referred to
2014 Gulf Goans Hotels Co. Ltd. & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2013 Manohar Lal Sharma v. The Principal Secretary and Ors. referred to
2013 C.B.I. v. Ashok Kumar Aggarwal referred to
2013 Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of U.P. and Ors. referred to
2013 Kamlesh Verma v. Mayawati and Ors. referred to
2013 Chairman, Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation & Ors. v. Smt. Santosh & Ors. referred to
2013 State of Gujarat & Anr. v. Honble Mr. Justice R. A. Mehta (retd) & Ors. referred to
2012 Vinay Tyagi v. Irshad Ali @ Deepak & Ors. referred to
2011 State of Punjab v. Central Bureau of Investigation & Ors. referred to
2010 State of West Bengal & Ors. v. The Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, West Bengal & Ors referred to
2010 Common Cause (a Regd. Society) v. Union of India & Anr. distinguished

Of those, 10 relied on · 1 distinguished · 27 referred to

Sign in free to read it

The full judgment, page by page, as published in the Supreme Court Reports
The ratio: what the Court held, verbatim, with the page it sits on
Every bench that relied on it, and every bench that argued against it
Search every reported judgment, by party, citation or question
Download the PDF, copy pinpoint citations ready for a filing

An email address, no password.