New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved verdict on special leave petitions raising an issue on sanction for prosecuting a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A Bench consisting of Justices Arijit Pasayat and S.H. Kapadia reserved order verdict at the conclusion of arguments, spread over three weeks, on the appeals filed by the former Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh, the former Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, the former Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran, the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi challenging the sanction granted for their prosecution by different authorities.

Though facts were different in each case, the legal issue pertained to grant of sanction for prosecution.

They contended that prior sanction from the competent authority was necessary to prosecute a public servant who allegedly misused his office and no court could otherwise take cognisance of the charge sheet.

However, it had to be determined who was the competent authority — the authority at the time of the commission of offence or the authority at the time of filing of the charge sheet.

The appellants argued that if on the date of taking cognisance of the offence, he/she was a public servant holding a different public office, sanction of the competent authority for the subsequent public office was necessary for prosecution.

Further, sanction under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was provided to protect public servants from the harassment of false accusations and malicious prosecution.

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