India, Jan. 21 -- The Supreme Court has held that state police authorities are competent to investigate offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) even when the accused is a central government employee, clarifying that such cases are not within the exclusive domain of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court further ruled that no prior permission or consent of CBI is required for a state police agency to register an FIR or file a charge sheet against a central government employee, and that proceedings initiated by a state's anti-corruption agency cannot be invalidated on the ground that CBI was not involved.

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and Satish Chandra Sharma upheld a Rajasthan High Court judgment refusi...