The Supreme Court recently comprising of a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta observed that sanction from competent authorities under Section 197 of Code of Criminal Procedure is required to prosecute public servants if the alleged act committed is directly concerned with the official duty. (Indra Devi vs. State of Rajasthan )
The bench observed that the yardstick to be followed is to form a prima facie view whether the act of omission for which the accused was charged had a reasonable connection with the discharge of his duties.
Facts of the case
The present appeal was filed against a Rajasthan High Court judgment which allowed a petition filed by a accused - public servant under Section 482 of the CrPC and held that sanction under Section 197 CrPC was necessary.
The case against the accused was that he had conspired with his superiors who issued a forged lease. Indra Devi, the appellant, who was the owner of the land whose one plot was sold to one Megharam while another plot was sold to one Chetan Choudhary filed a complaint under Sections 420/467/468/471/120B of the IPC and Sections 3(1)(4)/3(15)/3(5) of the Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
In an application under Section 197 of the CrPC before the trial court it was stated that he was a public servant and what he did in respect of allotment of lease, that was executed in favour of Megharam, was done during the course of his official duty and thus he was entitled to protection under the aforementioned provision. He also sought to assail the chargesheet as the same had been filed without obtaining sanction of the competent authority under Section 197 of the CrPC. The trial court dismissed the application, while noticing that Respondent No.2 had not been mentioned in the FIR.
Contention of the Parties
The appellant contended before us that the involvement of Respondent No.2 only came to light during investigation. He had failed to bring the irregularities to the knowledge of his superiors which was instrumental in issuing the forged lease. Thus, he had conspired with his superiors in dishonestly concealing the forgery, and intentionally omitting mentioning the date of the proceedings on the order sheet. Such action of forging documents would not be considered as an act conducted in the course of his official duties and, thus Section 197 of the CrPC would not give protection to Respondent No.2.
On the other hand, Respondent No.2 endeavoured to support the impugned judgment of the High Court by emphasising that in FIR only Megharam alongwith some unnamed officials were mentioned. Surender Kumar Mathur, the Executive Officer of the Nagar Palika, had filed a petition under Section 482 of the CrPC relating to the same transaction and the High Court had granted him protection under Section 197 of the CrPC vide order dated 22.02.2018. The conduct of putting his initials was held to be an act done in discharge of his duties. Similarly, Sandeep Mathur, a Junior Engineer, who was part of the same transaction, was granted protection by the Sessions Court vide order dated 19.03.2020, once again under the same provision, i.e., Section 197 of the CrPC. Both the orders remained unchallenged by the complainant and the State.
Further, it was argued that Respondent No.2 was simply carrying out his official duty which is apparent from the work allotted to him that pertained to allotment, regularisation, conversion of agricultural land and all kinds of work relating to land and conversion. The application of Megharam was routed through the office, and the proceedings show that the file was initially put up before the Executive Officer, who directed inspection, which was carried out by the Junior Engineer. Thereafter, file was placed before the Executive Officer again and only then was it signed by the Municipal Commissioner. The two key people involved in the process had already been granted protection and thus Respondent No.2 herein, who was merely a Lower Division Clerk, could not be denied similar protection.
Courts observation & Judgment
The court taking note of the submission of the parties noted, “We have given our thought to the submissions of learned counsel for the parties. Section 197 of the CrPC seeks to protect an officer from unnecessary harassment, who is accused of an offence committed while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duties and, thus, prohibits the court from taking cognisance of such offence except with the previous sanction of the competent authority. Public servants have been treated as a special category in order to protect them from malicious or vexatious prosecution. At the same time, the shield cannot protect corrupt officers and the provisions must be construed in such a manner as to advance the cause of honesty, justice and good governance. [See Subramanian Swamy Vs. Manmohan Singh]. The alleged indulgence of the officers in cheating, fabrication of records or misappropriation cannot be said to be in discharge of their official duty. However, such sanction is necessary if the offence alleged against the public servant is committed by him "while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty" and in order to find out whether the alleged offence is committed "while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty", the yardstick to be followed is to form a prima facie view whether the act of omission for which the accused was charged had a reasonable connection with the discharge of his duties. [See State of Maharashtra Vs. Dr. Budhikota Subbarao] . The real question, therefore, is whether the act committed is directly concerned with the official duty."
The court noted that the role assigned to the public servant is conspiring with his two superiors who were granted protection under Section 197 CrPC. Neither the State nor the complainant appealed against the protection granted under Section 197 of the CrPC qua these two other officers.
The court while dismissing the appeal remarked, "We are, thus, not able to appreciate why a similar protection ought not to be granted to Respondent No.2 as was done in the case of the other two officials by the Trial Court and High Court respectively. The sanction from competent authority would be required to take cognisance and no sanction had been obtained in respect of any of the officers. It is in view thereof that in respect of the other two officers, the proceedings were quashed and that is what the High Court has directed in the present case as well."
Read Judgment;
Social media is bold.
Social media is young.
Social media raises questions.
Social media is not satisfied with an answer.
Social media looks at the big picture.
Social media is interested in every detail.
social media is curious.
Social media is free.
Social media is irreplaceable.
But never irrelevant.
Social media is you.
(With input from news agency language)
If you like this story, share it with a friend!
We are a non-profit organization. Help us financially to keep our journalism free from government and corporate pressure
0 Comments