R.SADHASIVAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Appeal has been preferred by the accused in Spl.C.C.No.142 of 2011, which was pending on the file of the Special Court for cases under Prevention of Corruption Act, Coimbatore, aggrieved by the judgment, dtd. 4/1/2012 whereby the appellant had been convicted for offence under Sec. 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and also for offence under Sec. 13(2) r/w Sec. 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and had been sentenced to undergo two years rigorous imprisonment for offence under Sec. 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and also to pay a fine of Rs.1,000.00, in default, undergo one month rigorous imprisonment and for three years rigorous imprisonment for offence under Sec. 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and to pay a fine of Rs.2,000.00, in default, undergo two months rigorous imprisonment.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that the appellant was working as a Village Administrative Officer in Siruvallur Village in Erode District. It had been charged that he had demanded and accepted a bribe amount of Rs.2,000.00 from the defacto complainant holding out that unless the bribe amount is paid, he would not facilitate the grant of revenue documents namely Adangal, Chitta and such other documents which the defacto complainant required in order to transfer the electricity connection to the name of his father from the name of his grand father.

(3.) It is to be mentioned that the defacto complainant or rather his father were entitled to undivided 1/8th share of agricultural property which was ancestral in nature. There was also a common well with electric motor pump set and in order to obtain the transfer of electricity connection to the name of his father, the defacto complainant had to undergo a few steps before such connection could be transferred by the electricity department. Among other steps to be taken by the defacto complainant, there was a necessity to obtain the Adangal and Chitta documents with respect to the land and more importantly, to also get a survey report of the land. These processes involved giving an application primarily to the jurisdictional Tahsildar who, in turn, should forward the necessary application along with the relevant documents to the Revenue Inspector who, thereafter, should forward the said application and the documents after verification to the Village Administrative Officer. The Village Administrative Officer was not the competent authority to issue either Adangal, Chitta or any other document sought by the defacto complainant. But he was an important link in the chain of events and his endorsement is also required to ultimately obtain the Adangal, Chitta or any other revenue document as required by the defacto complainant. Yet, another step to be taken was to survey the land and obtain a report and this had to be discharged by the Deputy Tahsildar along with the Village Administrative Officer.