Despite the Supreme Court culling down as unconstitutional the law requiring the CBI to take sanction before probing government servants at the level of joint secretary and above, delay in granting sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act continue to plague the trial in many cases forcing a Delhi court to point out the sorry state of affairs.
While expressing disquiet at the delay in granting sanction, Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma said the bureaucracy of India is known to stand by truth fearlessly and decision on sanction is taken by it in most cases and called for decision on the same to be taken within reasonable time so that “good times paving way for corruption-free India too arrive”, seemingly deriving from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Good times are coming’ statement.
While the apex court has struck down section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act thereby allowing CBI to start investigation against senior bureaucrats, the court can still not take cognizance of the charge sheet, which may be filed against them, without a sanction under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
“Despite section 6A of DSPE Act being struck down as unconstitutional, section 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act still mandates that in the absence of sanction under it, cognizance against the erring cannot be taken,” the court said.
The court made the observations while pointing it a delay of eight months in grant of sanction in a case of fraud of Rs 203.18 crore against P.K.Tewari and Anand Tewari, the directors of Mahuaa Media Pvt Ltd. The CBI has accused them of getting the term loan from nationalized banks – Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India and the Bank of Baroda for buying broadcasting equipment on forged documents in connivance with public servants.
The charge sheet in the matter was filed in July last year but no cognizance could be taken for awaited sanction. CBI Senior Prosecutor A K Gautam had told the court that other similar cases are also pending against the accused persons involving fraud of Rs.1500 crore.
The Special Judge had since last year been writing to the CBI calling for pendency of cases due to sanction and has been pointing out how CBI has been sending repeated requests for grant of sanction to the authorities concerned but in vain.
“It is a very sorry state of affairs that despite section 6A of DSPE Act being struck down as unconstitutional in cases where sanction is required prior to the registration and investigation of the case with the aim that guilty should not escape law, still in case the decision regarding grant or refusal of sanction is kept pending for years together without any cogent reason, the situation still remains that guilty at every level remains beyond law as their trial cannot start as per mandate of section 19 PC Act,” the court noted.
“This order is not judicial overreach or unreasonable judicial activism. It is rather the inability of the courts to close their eyes and minds towards such attitude of sanctioning authorities…,” the judge said.
It is to be noted that the Supreme Court had in 1998 judgement in Vineet Narain’s case had laid down certain guidelines and time limit for sanctioning authority to grant sanction. A circular issued by the Central Vigilance Commission in May, 2012 also directs sanctioning authorities to adhere to the time limits.
In the instant case, CBI told the court it had written several letters to the authorities concerned for expediting decision on sanction followed by telephonic discussions but no order has been received as yet. The law does not permit courts to issue notice to the sanctioning authorities in case of delay.
