SC delivers split verdict on Section 17A of Prevention of Corruption Act

New Delhi: Two judges of the Supreme Court delivered differing verdict on the constitutionality of an amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act with the court eventually directing that the case be placed before the chief justice, Scroll reported.

Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KV Viswanathan delivered what a report said ‘split verdict’ on the constitutionality of amendment to the Act that sought to mandate prior permission of government to start probing a public servant under the law.

Justice BV Nagarathna pointed out that Section 17A of the Act contravenes the Constitution while Justice KV Viswanathan held that ‘sanction should depend on the recommendation of the Lokpal or Lokayukta’ according to LiveLaw.

The court directed to place the matter before the Chief Justice to get another bench to decide on it.

It is reported that the Lokpal at the Centre and the Lokayukta in the states are anti-corruption ombudsmen.

The amendment to the Act requiring prior sanction was introduced in 2018 where previously such approval was necessary only for probe against ‘officials above the rank of a joint secretary’.

Pointing out that requiring prior sanction is against the objective of the Act, Nagarathna said ‘This section is nothing but an attempt to resurrect the section, which was struck down and is thus an attempt to protect the corrupt’.

Viswanathan held that an independent entity free from the executive must decide on sanction, adding that ‘Section 17A is constitutionally valid subject to the condition that the sanction must be decided by the Lok Pal or the Lok Ayukta of the state’.

Justice Viswanathan termed striking down the provision altogether as ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’ emphasizing that if honest public servants were not protected from ‘frivolous investigation’, it would lead to ‘policy paralysis’.