The Centre on Thursday filed a petition seeking review of the Supreme Court order that had framed guidelines to ensure that the Government cleared all applications seeking sanction to prosecute ‘corrupt' public servants in a time-bound manner.
The review plea claims that there were errors in the January 31 apex court order. The apex court order had said the sanctioning authority had to decide (for grant or refusal) within four months on every application seeking such a sanction.
The Government has sought a review of the interpretation of the apex court regarding the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act), particularly on the stage for grant of sanction for prosecution of a ‘corrupt' public servant.
The apex court had observed that a complainant can seek sanction for prosecution of public servants even before filing of a complaint, while the Government's plea now claims that the stage of sanction comes in only after filing of complaint and at the stage of cognisance.
The court had said that the Attorney General's “argument that the question of granting sanction for prosecution of a public servant charged with the offence, under the PC Act arises only at the stage of taking cognisance and not before that, is neither supported by the plain language of the section nor the judicial precedents relied upon by him”.
But the Government said the apex court's view that the question of sanction can come up even before stage of cognisance and the filing of the complaint is not legally tenable.
The matter pertains to a petition filed by the Janata Party President, Dr Subramanian Swamy, asking the apex court to direct the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to take a decision on his petition seeking sanction to prosecute the then Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja, in the 2G spectrum case, under the PC Act.
After Mr Raja resigned during pendency of the case, Dr Swamy wanted the court to frame guidelines for speedy justice in future cases.