In Brief
The Supreme Court set aside a High Court Division Bench's order that converted a pending special appeal into a suo-motu Public Interest Litigation and directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry into a recruitment process for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council Secretariat. The petitioners had challenged the recruitment process as arbitrary and sought regularization on contractual basis, but neither they nor the appeal papers sought CBI investigation. The Court held that CBI investigations require prima-facie evidence of criminal wrongdoing and must be ordered sparingly in exceptional cases only. Mere doubts about an external recruitment agency were insufficient. The Court emphasized that unsuccessful recruitment candidates cannot attract CBI investigation by simply challenging selection fairness, and that High Courts must exercise judicial restraint in invoking extraordinary investigative powers.
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