REPUBLIC OF INDIA Vs. KHAGENDRANATH JHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE respondent in the Government Appeal and the appellant in the Criminal Appeal is the same person. For the sake of convenience he is referred to as 'accused'. The accused was the Agent, State Bank of India, Athgarh. He was charged under section 5(1)(d) read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and under section 120 -B I.P.C. on the allegation that he agreed with one person to cheat the State Bank of India and ultimately cheated the Bank and allowed undue pecuniary benefit to one Ramesh Chandra Rai Samant. It is not necessary to state the facts in detail. The accused was acquitted of the charge under section 5(1)(d) read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and he was convicted for offence under Sections 477 -A and 120 -B of the I.P.C. with sentence to undergo R. I. for two years on each count. The Government Appeal is directed against the order of acquittal of the offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Criminal Appeal is directed against the conviction of the accused under the Penal Code.

(2.) MR . Mohanty, the learned counsel for the accused, contends that there was no valid sanction for the prosecution of the accused and in absence of valid sanction, the entire prosecution is illegal and the court has no jurisdiction to try the case. He further submits that if the prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act fails he cannot be convicted of other offence, inasmuch as the case was tried by a Special Judge.

(3.) IT is contended that there has been no sanction for prosecution under prevention of Corruption Act. According to Section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, sanction is mandatory for prosecution for offence under section 5(2) of the Act. In this case Ext. 40 is the sanction order which has been proved by P.W. 14. P.W. 14 has admitted that the accused is a Grade II Officer. From Ext. 40, it appears that the sanction has been given by the Local Board of the State Bank of India by virtue of Section 50 of the State Bank of India Act with previous sanction of the Central Government. This is known as the State Bank of India General Regulations 1935. Chap. VI of the Regulations relates to Central Board and its Executive Committee and Chap. VII relates to Local Boards and their committees. Regn, 55 of the Regns. comes under Chap. VI of the Regulations, Regn. 55 provides :