Mumbai: As Rajasthan witnesses an uproar over an Act protecting public servants, a similar legislation amending the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has already been implemented in Maharashtra since 2016. The Opposition is demanding it be repealed.
In the Legislative Assembly’s monsoon session in 2016, The state government had pushed through an amendment to section 156 of the CrPC, 1973, which prohibited registering a complaint against active or retired public servants, unless sanctioned by the State government. It said, “No Magistrate shall order an investigation under this section against a person who is or was a public servant as defined under any law for the time being in force, in respect of the act done by such public servant while acting of purporting to act in the discharge of his official duties, except with the previous sanction under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or under any law for the time being in force.”
The NCP has demanded the Act, called the Code of Criminal Procedure (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 2015, be repealed. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said his party said this demand has fallen on deaf ears. Terming the Rajasthan ordinance a ‘shield to protect corrupt officials’, Mr. Malik said the Maharashtra Act provides security to corrupt ministers and officers. “A government which calls for transparency in administration should repeal it at the earliest.”
ADVERTISEMENT