The Kerala High Court has recently ruled that that a sanction should be well-reasoned and must reflect the materials considered by the authority for the purpose of deciding the necessity for granting the same for prosecution of a Public Servant.
The Court relied on SC Judgement on Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and higher Secondary Ed Vs. K.S. Gandhi & Ors, 1991 Latest Caselaw 70 SC and held that without highlighting any reason and without any indication as to the documents perused, no order of sanction should be passed.
In the present petition so filed, the petitioner-accused who are Govt Employees were charged under Section 5(a) of the Kerala Rationing Order read with Sections 3(2) (c) (d), 7(i) (a) (ii) and Section 8 of the Essential Commodities Act who seek quashing of the criminal proceedings against them.
It was their contention that the prosecution initiated case against them in violation of the statutory stipulations contained in Section 15(A) of Essential Commodities Act, 1995.
It was further contended that, grant of sanction is not a mere formality, as the same is provided in the statute for ensuring a protection to the public servant from unwanted criminal prosecution in respect of the acts which he carried out during the course of his duties. In such circumstances, the concerned authority was having a bounden duty to examine the materials unearthed by the investigating officer and a subjective satisfaction ought to have been arrived at by the competent authority before according sanction for prosecution.
Learned Counsel for the petitioner further contended that the impugned sanction order so issued is also completely silent as to whether appropriate authority has considered the relevant materials before granting sanction for prosecuting him.
The Court relying on SC Ruling in R.Balakrishna Pillai Vs. State of Kerala, 2003 Latest Caselaw 124 SC observed that as per Section 15(A) of Essential Commodities Act, no court can take cognizance against a public servant for the offences punishable under the Act except with the previous sanction of the State Government. The Court also noted that as per Section 15A(b), even for a public servant who retired subsequently, sanction is a mandatory requirement, if the alleged acts were committed while the said accused was on duty at the time of commission of crime.
The Court concluded that the chance of successful prosecution of the petitioner is very bleak and thus accordingly quashed the criminal proceedings invoking powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C
Read Order Here:
source ; /www.latestlaws.com
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