Punjab Issues Instructions Regarding Prosecution Against Government Officers

Chandigarh, May 13, 2015: In pursuance of the Judgement of Hon’ble Supreme Court and instruction from Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, GoI, the Punjab government has directed all the financial commissioners, Principal Secretaries and Administrative Secretaries to maintain utmost care and conscientiousness while giving sanction to any investigating agency for the prosecution of any government officers.

Disclosing this here an official spokesperson of the General Administration Department of the Punjab Government said that written instructions to all the Head Of Departments have been issued referring to the Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgement in which court has observed that there is obligation on the sanctioning authority to discharge its duty to give or withhold sanction only after having full knowledge of the material facts of the case. Grant of sanction is not mere formality so before granting sanction public interest and the protection available to the accused against whom sanction is sought must be kept in mind.

The Spokesperson said that Supreme Court has explicitly laid down guidelines for grant of sanction for prosecution which need to be complied upon. Court has observed that sanction lifts the bar for prosecution therefore it is not an acrimonious exercise but a solemn and sacrosanct act which affords protection to the government servant against frivolous prosecution.

Spokesperson said that instruction issued to the HoDs also supplemented with the relevant part of the Supreme Court judgement. The HoDs have been asked to adhere to these guidelines before granting sanction for prosecution. In para 8 of the judgement following guidelines have been issed for the competent authority while considering grant of sanction.

The prosecution must send the entire relavant record to the sanctioning authority including the FIR, Disclosure Statement, Statement of witness, Recovery Memos, Draft Charge Sheets and all other relevant material. The record so sent should also contain the material/document if any which may tilt the balance in favour of the accused and on the basis of which, competent authority may refuse sanction.

The authority itself has to do complete and conscious scrutiny of the whole record so produced by the prosecution independently applying its mind and taking into consideration all the relevant facts before grant of sanction while discharging its duty to give or withhold  the sanction.

The power to grant sanction is to be exercise strictly keeping in mind the public interest and the protections available to the accused against whom the sanction is sought.

The order of sanction should make it evident that the authority had been aware of all relevant facts/materials and had applied its mind to all the relevant material.

In every individual case, the prosecutions has to establish and satisfy the court by leading evidence that the entire relevant facts had been placed before the sanctioning authority and the authority had applied its mind on the same and that the sanction had been granted in accordance with law.