Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act

Source: Hindustan times
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Overview

1. News in Brief
2. Section 6A of the DSPE Act
3. 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act

Why in the News?

The Constitution bench ruled that the court’s 2014 ruling that revoked the immunity to senior officers booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in corruption cases between September 2003 and May 2014 will have retrospective operation effectively.

• Meaning that such public servants can be prosecuted without government approval.

News in Brief

• The ruling by the bench, which also comprised justices Sanjiv Khanna, AS Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari, clarified a 2014 judgment by another five-judge bench that scrapped Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, inserted in September 2003 to mandate prior sanction of the government before initiating prosecutions.
• After the 2014 judgment, the Centre revived the immunity shield of public servants by making an amendment to the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act in July 2018.
• This amendment is presently under challenge before the top court.

Section 6A of the DSPE Act

• Section 6A laid down that

CBI shall not conduct any probe into an alleged offence under the PC Act except with the previous approval of the central government where such allegation relates to an officer of the level of joint secretary and above and where such officers are appointed by the central government in corporations established by or under any central law, government companies, societies and local authorities owned or controlled by the government.

• Section 6A remained in the statute book for a period of more than 10 years till the Supreme Court quashed it in the case of Subramanian Swamy vs. Union of India on May 6, 2014.
• A five-judge bench held the impugned provision to be unconstitutional as being violative of Article 14 (equality) of the Constitution.
• When a law is declared unconstitutional, it means it violates the fundamental rights guaranteed under Part-III of the Constitution.
• In such a scenario, the law is deemed to be void ab initio, which essentially means that it was never valid in the first place.
• This renders the law unenforceable and non-existent, as per the provisions of Article 13(2) of the Constitution and the interpretation of the same by authoritative sources.
• Therefore, any action taken under such a law would be illegal and invalid.

How does it help central Agencies?

• Supreme Court has declared that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) no longer requires prior permission from the government for investigating or prosecuting cases filed before 2014.
• This decision has come after the provision of Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act was declared unconstitutional in 2014.
• CBI was required to seek permission from the government before initiating any investigation or prosecution according to the act.

Impact on Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act

Section 17A of the Act came into force on 26th July 2018, and provides that there cannot be any enquiry, inquiry, investigation without prior approval.

• The verdict is expected to have a significant impact on corruption and other criminal cases that were initiated against government officials between 2003 and 2018 when the provision of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act came into force.
• This provision also made it mandatory for the CBI to obtain prior permission from the government before investigating or prosecuting any government officials.
• The recent decision of the Supreme Court is likely to speed up the investigation and prosecution process, as the CBI can now act independently without seeking permission from the government.
• This decision is a significant step towards ensuring transparency and accountability in the Indian administrative system and strengthening the fight against corruption.

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