The Kerala High Court on Monday quashed a corruption case registered against Jacob Thomas, former Director General of Police (DGP), in connection with a purchase when he served as the Director of Ports Department.
Justice R. Narayana Pisharady passed the verdict while allowing a petition by Mr. Thomas challenging the FIR registered by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau against him.
The charge
The allegation against the retired IPS officer was that while holding the post of Director of Ports from September 16, 2009 to March 17, 2014, he had proposed a tender for the purchase of a Cutter Suction Dredger for the Ports Department without the approval of the technical committee. The FIR alleged that he accepted the bid of M/s IHC Merwede, Holland, on January 18, 2012, without obtaining a revised administrative sanction from the government.
The court observed that the allegations in the FIR did not reveal commission of an offence by the petitioner under Section 13(1)(d)(ii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court observed that a letter dated April 30, 2019, by the then Director of Ports (not the petitioner) showed that the technical committee was constituted and in the meeting held on August 10, 2011, the committee had approved the specifications of the Cutter Suction Dredger to be procured and also put the estimated cost at ₹8 crore.
‘A collective decision’
The court observed that the petitioner, either personally or in his official capacity as the Director of Ports, had not awarded the contract to M/s. IHC Merwede. The decision to accept the tender of that company was made by the Department Purchase Committee which included three representatives of the State government. When culpability was attributed on the basis of a collective decision, criminal proceedings could not be initiated against only one of them.
