The CBI is at liberty to probe the disproportionate assets case against BSP supremo Mayawati, the Supreme Court said today while issuing notices to the Centre, CBI and the former UP chief minister on a plea to clarify its verdict quashing the DA case against her.

"We never said that CBI has no power to investigate. It can do so, but has to get sanction from the state government," the court said adding that its order was not to protect anyone.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and Dipak Misra sought the response of Mayawati and others and made it clear that it would only clarify its July 6 verdict, quashing the nine-year- old DA case against Mayawati, on a review petition filed in the case.

The bench agreed to do so after it was pleaded that the probe in the case has come to an end in the light of its verdict even though the CBI has got sufficient evidence against her.

"If that is the impression then we would clarify our order," the bench said.

The bench said that it had "scanned" and "surveyed" all the previous orders passed by the apex court and came to conclusion that there was no direction for the probe in this case and the FIR in DA case was quashed.

At the same time, the bench also mentioned that its order did not bar the agency from going ahead with the probe in the case after getting appropriate sanction.

"After surveying the orders passed by the court from time to time, we felt that there was no direction to conduct the investigation qua this aspect," the bench said.

In a relief Mayawati, the Supreme Court had on July 6 quashed the DA case against her and had pulled up the CBI for exceeding its jurisdiction by lodging an FIR against her without any direction from it.

The apex court had said the DA case against Mayawati was "unwarranted" and the agency proceeded against her without properly understanding its orders which were confined to Taj Corridor case relating to the release of Rs 17 crore by UP government allegedly without sanction.

"We did not debar CBI to proceed with investigation after taking sanction," the bench said adding, "We issue notice to the Union of India, CBI and Mayawati only for this clarification."

"CBI is at liberty to probe the DA case and they can approach the government for this," the bench said.

The court was hearing a review petition filed by Uttar Pradesh native Kamlesh Verma who was an intervener in the case filed by Mayawati in the apex court for quashing the DA case against her.

Seeking review of the apex court's July 6 judgement, the petitioner argued that the court had decided the case merely on technical grounds without appreciating the evidence collected by the CBI against Mayawati.

Senior Advocate Shanti Bhushan, appearing for Verma, submitted that there are various orders passed by the apex court's three judge bench allowing the agency to probe in the DA case.

He placed those orders before the bench and said that its verdict was in contradiction to those orders.

Taking note of his submission, the bench said, "we are concerned about the relief prayed in the petition and grievances of the petitioner."

Bhushan, who read out various orders of the apex court into the probe in the DA case since 2003, said "this investigation cannot be quashed."

Advocate Ajay Agrawal, who had filed the case against Mayawati in the Taj Corridor Scam, also opposed the review plea in the DA case.