TMI Blog2013 (5) TMI 979X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... manner; and that the order of sanction does not reflect sincerity of approach. The High Court, while dealing with the said reason, has really not discussed anything except stating that a possible view has been taken by the learned trial Judge and in appeal it cannot substitute the findings merely because any other contrary opinion can be rendered in the facts of the case. Consequently, the appeal is allowed, the judgment of the High Court and the conclusion of the learned trial Judge pertaining to the validity of sanction are set aside and the matter is remitted to the High Court. Court have not dealt with any other finding recorded by the learned trial Judge, it has to be construed that there has been no expression of opinion on the merits of the case on those counts. The High Court shall be well advised to consider all the aspects barring what has been dealt with in this appeal while dealing with the application for grant of leave. - Criminal Appeal No. 2345 OF 2009 - - - Dated:- 28-5-2013 - B.S. Chauhan And Dipak Misra, JJ. JUDGMENT Dipak Misra, The singular question that emanates for consideration in this appeal is whether the High Court of Judicature at ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... view taken by the learned Special Judge in that regard was a plausible one being not contrary to material on record and hence, it did not require any interference. 4. We have heard Mr. Sidharth Luthra, learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the appellant, and Mr. V.N. Bachawat, learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent. 5. Section 19(1) of the Act postulates that no court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under Sections 7, 10, 11, 13 and 15 alleged to have been committed by a public servant except with the previous sanction. The said provision enumerates about the competent authorities. In the case at hand, the competence of the authority who has granted sanction is not in question. The only aspect that is required to be scrutinized whether the order granting sanction is valid in law. 6. Grant of sanction is irrefragably a sacrosanct act and is intended to provide safeguard to public servant against frivolous and vexatious litigations. Satisfaction of the sanctioning authority is essential to validate an order granting sanction. This Court in Jaswant Singh v. State of Punjab[AIR 1958 SC 124] was considering the validity and effect of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l sanction which itself contains the facts constituting the offence and the grounds of satisfaction and (ii) by adducing evidence aliunde to show the facts placed before the Sanctioning Authority and the satisfaction arrived at by it. It is well settled that any case instituted without a proper sanction must fail because this being a manifest defect in the prosecution, the entire proceedings are rendered void ab initio. 8. In Superintendent of Police (C.B.I.) v. Deepak Chowdhary and others[(1995) 6 SCC 225] it has been ruled that the grant of sanction is only an administrative function, though it is true that the accused may be saddled with the liability to be prosecuted in a court of law. What is material at that time is that the necessary facts collected during investigation constituting the offence have to be placed before the sanctioning authority and it has to consider the material. Prima facie, the authority is required to reach the satisfaction that the relevant facts would constitute the offence and then either grant or refuse to grant sanction. 9. In C.S. Krishnamurthy v. State of Karnataka[(2005) 4 SCC 81] it has been held as follows: - ...sanction order shou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rused the material placed before him and, after consideration of the circumstances, has granted sanction for prosecution. c) The prosecution may prove by adducing the evidence that the material was placed before the sanctioning authority and his satisfaction was arrived at upon perusal of the material placed before him. d) Grant of sanction is only an administrative function and the sanctioning authority is required to prima facie reach the satisfaction that relevant facts would constitute the offence. e) The adequacy of material placed before the sanctioning authority cannot be gone into by the court as it does not sit in appeal over the sanction order. f) If the sanctioning authority has perused all the materials placed before him and some of them have not been proved that would not vitiate the order of sanction. g) The order of sanction is a pre-requisite as it is intended to provide a safeguard to public servant against frivolous and vexatious litigants, but simultaneously an order of sanction should not be construed in a pedantic manner and there should not be a hyper-technical approach to test its validity. 14. Keeping in view the aforesaid principles it is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er offences punishable under the provisions of any law in respect of the acts aforesaid and for taking cognizance of the said offences by the court of competent jurisdiction. Date : 04.10.2000 (Illegible) (SHRI Y.B. KELKAR) ASST. GENERAL MANAGER (OAD) APPOINTING AUTHORITY 15. Reserving our opinion on the same for the present we shall proceed to deal with the reasons for treating the said order of sanction as invalid and improper by the learned trial Judge. The learned trial Judge has referred to the sanction order Ext.13 and the forwarding letter Ext. 14 and, thereafter, proceeded to observe that the order of sanction is completely bereft of elementary details; that though the date is not mentioned in the FIR, the authority has mentioned the date in the sanction order; that the order of sanction is delightfully vague; that the amount of bribe that finds place in the sanction order was told to him and he had no personal knowledge about it; that the minimum discussion is absent in the order of sanction; that grant of sanction being not an idle formality it was incumbent on the competent authority to ascribe proper reasons on perusal of the materials; that there is no materia ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r of sanction should never be forgotten but simultaneously the rampant corruption in society has to be kept in view. It has come to the notice of this Court how adjournments are sought in a maladroit manner to linger the trial and how at every stage ingenious efforts are made to assail every interim order. It is the duty of the court that the matters are appropriately dealt with on proper understanding of law of the land. Minor irregularities or technicalities are not to be given Everestine status. It should be borne in mind that historically corruption is a disquiet disease for healthy governance. It has the potentiality to stifle the progress of a civilized society. It ushers in an atmosphere of distrust. Corruption fundamentally is perversion and infectious and an individual perversity can become a social evil. We have said so as we are of the convinced view that in these kind of matters there has to be reflection of promptitude, abhorrence for procrastination, real understanding of the law and to further remain alive to differentiate between hyper-technical contentions and the acceptable legal proponements. 18. We shall presently deal with the course of action that is requir ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
