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State of Punjab v. Hari Kesh

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 50Decided 7 Jan 2025
Criminal Appeal (arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 9114/2019)
Justice Bela M. Trivedi · Justice Prasanna B. Varale

Background

A government employee (respondent) was accused of taking a bribe, and an FIR was registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act. After a sanction order permitting his prosecution was issued, he challenged it before the High Court, which quashed both the sanction and the resulting criminal proceedings, even though the trial had already begun and seven prosecution witnesses had already been examined. The State of Punjab appealed to the Supreme Court against that quashing order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court was wrong to quash the sanction order at such a late stage. Relying on its own precedent in State of Karnataka, Lokayukta Police v. S. Subbegowda, the Court explained that under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, once a trial has commenced, an appellate or revisional court cannot set aside proceedings merely because of an error or irregularity in the sanction, unless it specifically finds that a "failure of justice" actually resulted from that defect. The High Court's order contained no such finding. Since whether the sanction was validly granted is itself a question to be proved by evidence during trial, the Court restored the case to the trial court to continue from where it had stopped.

Lesson Learnt

A technical defect in the paperwork authorizing a criminal case against a public official cannot be used to short-circuit a trial that is already underway. Courts must first find that real injustice occurred, not just point to an irregularity.

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

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