The Supreme Court today ruled that courts have powers to order CBI probe without the consent of state governments with a rider that this should be used cautiously and sparingly.

In a unanimous verdict, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said such powers had to be exercised cautiously by the apex court and the high courts.

The bench, also comprising R V Raveendran, D K Jain, P Sathasivam and J M Panchal, however, said that such powers had to be used sparingly in exceptional and extraordinary circumstances in cases having national and international ramifications.

Otherwise, the CBI would be flooded with such directions in routine cases, the bench said.