Prior sanction for officials' trial not required: SC

new delhi: in a major setback to the public servants facing trial under anti-corruption or criminal laws, the supreme court has ruled that the question of seeking prior sanction for their trial could be decided at the end of their prosecution. the judgment, which may strengthen the hands of the prosecution, is a fallout of an appeal by former sikkim rural development secretary p k pradhan, who with former sikkim chief minister nar bahadur bhandari, was being charged under the prevention of corruption act.they and some contractors were chargesheeted by the cbi for abuse of power in granting 36 rural water supply schemes worth rs 1.62 crore without calling for open tenders in 1983. pradhan said since the cbi did not seek sanction to prosecute him under section 197 of the code of criminal procedure, the trial court could not have tried him as the offence was alleged to have been committed when he was a public servant and bhandari was the cm. a bench comprising justice g b pattanaik, justice s n phukan and justice b n agrawal, however, said it was well-settled that the question of sanction under section 197 of crpc could be raised any time after the trial court took cognisance of the offence. ``but there may be certain cases where it may not be possible to decide the question effectively without giving opportunity to the defence to establish that what he did was in discharge of official duty,'' the bench said. ``in such an eventuality, the question of sanction should be left open to be decided in the main judgment, which may be delivered upon the conclusion of the trial,'' the court added. dismissing pradhan's appeal, the bench said for claiming protection under section 197 of crpc, the accused had to show reasonable connection between the offence and the discharge of official duty. ``an official act can be performed in the discharge of official duty as well as in dereliction of it. for invoking protection under section 197 of crpc, the acts of the accused complained of must be such that the same cannot be separated from the discharge of official duty,'' the judges explained. ``but if there was no reasonable connection between them and the performance of those duties, the official status furnishes only the occasion or opportunity for the acts, then no sanction would be required,'' the apex court said. pradhan claimed that in awarding contract in his official capacity as secretary, department of rural development, he did not abuse his position and works were awarded to the contractor at a rate permissible under the law and not at low rate. the bench said these facts were required to be established, which could be done at the trial.