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State of Gujarat v. Mansukhbhai Kanjibhai Shah

Criminal Appeal · 2020 INSC 366Decided 27 Apr 2020
Criminal Appeal No. 989 of 2018
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar · Justice Ajay Rastogi

Background

The respondent, a trustee connected to a trust running a "deemed university," was accused of demanding Rs. 20 lakh from a student's father to let his daughter sit her final MBBS examination, with cheques and large sums recovered during the investigation. A trial court refused to discharge him, but the Gujarat High Court discharged him on revision, holding that a trustee of a "deemed university" could not be treated as a "public servant" under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the term "University" in Section 2(c)(xi) of the Prevention of Corruption Act must be given its own independent meaning for anti-corruption purposes, and is not limited by the narrower definition used in the University Grants Commission Act. Since a "deemed to be university" performs the same public function as a regular university, persons connected with its governance who perform public duties can be "public servants" under the Act. The Court also held that, at the discharge stage, the test is only whether there is sufficient material to raise a grave suspicion, not a full weighing of evidence, and found the material here (large unexplained cheques, witness statements) sufficient to proceed to trial. It therefore set aside the High Court's discharge order and allowed the State's appeal, while leaving all merits to be decided at trial.

Lesson Learnt

Officials connected with "deemed universities" can be prosecuted as public servants under anti-corruption law just like officials of regular universities, and courts should be slow to discharge an accused at a preliminary stage when the material on record raises a genuine, unexplained suspicion of wrongdoing.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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