Sanction for Prosecution of Public Servants under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988

 Sanction for Prosecution of Public Servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988

S.19 of the PC Act, 1988 is applicable on public servant and deals with cognizance by Court and previous sanction by competent authority. S.19 is not applicable on S.8,9, 10 and 12. Time limit given is 3 months. In an important finding of R.C. Sabharwal v. CBI [2010] GCtR 6281 (Delhi) it was held that the PC Act, 1988 was enacted in the year 1988, much after the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 came into force and the provisions of Section 19(3)(c) of PC Act, 1988 have been given overriding effect over the provisions contained in Code.

It was further held that had the intention of the Legislature been to give the same meaning to the term "interlocutory order" in Section 19(3)(c) of Prevention of Corruption Act, as had been given to this term in the context of Section 397 (2) of the Code, there would have been no necessity of incorporating a specific provision to this effect in Prevention of Corruption Act. Even in the absence of such a provision in Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 revisional powers could not have been used in respect of an interlocutory order, in view of the embargo placed by Section 397(2) of the Code, 1973. The Acts of the Legislature are not intended to be superfluous, and the Legislature is presumed to be aware and conscious of all other statutory enactments when it passes a particular legislation. Hence, if the Legislature, despite preexistence of similar provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure, chose to make a specific provision in Prevention of Corruption Act so as to take interlocutory orders out of the purview of revisional jurisdiction of the Court, it could not have intended to give same meaning to the expression "interlocutory order" as had been given to this term in the context of the Section 397(2) of the Code.