Chennai:Nearly 300 senior all India service officers, who are of joint secretary or above cadre in IAS, IPS and other departments and facing corruption cases, have reasons to be worried about last week's judgment by the Madras high court.
As per Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, corruption cases against joint secretarylevel officers and above cannot be commenced or continued without prior permission from the union home ministry. At present nearly 300 requests from investigating agencies — in most cases it is the CBI — are pending with the ministry and prosecution against them is stuck, as the ministry is yet to pass orders on the matter.
Now a division bench of the Madras high court has held that investigating need not await prior permission from the Centre as required under Section 6A, because the provision is only 'directory, not mandatory, in nature'. The bench of Justice R Banumathi and Justice K Ravichandrabaabu said: "An overall reading of entire Section 6A would only show the legislative intent that the approval contemplated therein can, at best, be only directory and not mandatory."
Going a step further, the bench said all India service officers too are state government employees while in state service, and hence they cannot expect help from Section 6A meant for central officers of joint secretary cadre and above.
While this is the first time a high court has passed such a conclusive verdict on the issue, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has already taken the matter to the knowledge of the Supreme Court. The matter, referred to a larger bench, is still pending.
The present order, virtually ruling that the insulation available to senior bureaucrats facing corruption charges need not stall their prosecution, was passed on a writ appeal filed by a suspended inspector-general of police, Pramod Kumar, who is facing CBI probe in the Paazee forex fraud case. The officer wanted the case to be quashed on the ground that the central agency had failed to obtain prior permission from the union home ministry.
As per Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, corruption cases against joint secretarylevel officers and above cannot be commenced or continued without prior permission from the union home ministry. At present nearly 300 requests from investigating agencies — in most cases it is the CBI — are pending with the ministry and prosecution against them is stuck, as the ministry is yet to pass orders on the matter.
Now a division bench of the Madras high court has held that investigating need not await prior permission from the Centre as required under Section 6A, because the provision is only 'directory, not mandatory, in nature'. The bench of Justice R Banumathi and Justice K Ravichandrabaabu said: "An overall reading of entire Section 6A would only show the legislative intent that the approval contemplated therein can, at best, be only directory and not mandatory."
Going a step further, the bench said all India service officers too are state government employees while in state service, and hence they cannot expect help from Section 6A meant for central officers of joint secretary cadre and above.
While this is the first time a high court has passed such a conclusive verdict on the issue, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy has already taken the matter to the knowledge of the Supreme Court. The matter, referred to a larger bench, is still pending.
The present order, virtually ruling that the insulation available to senior bureaucrats facing corruption charges need not stall their prosecution, was passed on a writ appeal filed by a suspended inspector-general of police, Pramod Kumar, who is facing CBI probe in the Paazee forex fraud case. The officer wanted the case to be quashed on the ground that the central agency had failed to obtain prior permission from the union home ministry.
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Posted By Blogger to What they say abourt Indian bureaucracy at 5/08/2013 02:42:00 PM
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