The court put time frame to sanction and flayed the Prime minister's Office for stalling on A Raja.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the right to file a complaint against a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act is a constitutional right, and that Parliament should make an amendment in the current law to ensure that sanction to prosecute a public servant is given within a period of four months or it will be deemed to have been given.
“The right of private citizen to file a complaint against a corrupt public servant must be equated with his right to access the court in order to set the criminal law in motion against a corrupt public official. This right... should not be burdened with unreasonable fetters,” a bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly ruled.
“When a private citizen approaches a court of law against a corrupt public servant who is highly placed, what is at stake is not only a vindication of personal grievance of that citizen but also the question of bringing orderliness in society and maintaining equal balance in the rule of law,” the bench said.
It urged Parliament to consider introducing a four-month time frame when dealing with requests for sanction to prosecute corrupt public servants. It said if the deadline of four months is not met the competent authority shall take action in accordance with guidelines laid down by the apex court in the Vineet Narain case of 1996.
The court, however, gave a clean chit to prime minister Manmohan Singh in the mishandling of the request to sanction prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam. Instead, it blamed the PMO of keeping the request pending for 16 months.
“The concerned officers in the prime minister’s office kept the matter pending and then took the shelter of the fact that the CBI had registered the case and the investigation was pending,” justices Singhvi and Ganguly said, adding that the PM cannot be expected to personally look into minute details of every case.
“Unfortunately, those who were expected to give proper advice to respondent No 1 (PM) and place full facts and legal position before him failed to do so,” the bench said.
Urging Parliament to amend the present law, the bench cited that out of 319 requests for sanction, sanction is awaited for 126. Expressing concern over the rampant corruption in the country, the bench said, “Today, corruption in our country not only poses a grave danger to the concept of constitutional governance, it also threatens the very foundation of Indian democracy and the rule of law...”
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