Hari Lal Agrawal, J.

1. All these four cases which have been referred to Division Bench, have beet heard together as a common question of law arises in them, namely, as to whether the Delhi Special Police Establishment, commonly known as C.B.I., had any authority to investigate the cases instituted against the petitioners of these cases for offences alleged to have been committed by them under different clauses of Sec. 5(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and some sections of the Indian Penal Code, on the ground that the said Police Establishment had no legal authority in this regard in the absence of a legal consent by the State Government as required under Sec. 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 (Act XXV of 1946). All these cases are being disposed of herewith. All the cases against petitioners J. N. Sahay, S.K. Bhattacharjee and K. K. Malhotra along with various other accused persons are pending for trial in the Court of Special Judge, C.B.I, (South Bihar), Patna. The petitioners at different stages of the proceedings on different dates made applications before the said trial Judge for dropping the proceedings and discharging them, on the ple