SARJOO PRASAD Vs. BIDYANANDAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who is a Station Master on the O.T. Railway is being prosecuted in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed on 26 July 1944. He has moved this Court to have the proceedings quashed on the ground that his prosecution has not been sanctioned. He relies on Section 197, Criminal P.C., and Section 270, Clause (1), Government of India Act, 1985.

(2.) Section 197 requires sanction only in the case of a person who is a Judge within the meaning of Section 19, Indian Penal Code, or a Magistrate, or a public servant who is not removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the Local Government, or some higher authority. The petitioner has not shown that he falls within any of these categories. So far as Section 270, Government of India Act is concerned, that applies only in respect of acts done before the relevant date, which expression is defined in Sub-section 8. As Part III of this Act came into force in 1987, it is obvious that the Section does not apply to offences committed in July 1944.

(3.) There is no substance in either of the contentions raised on behalf of the petitioner, and the rule is discharged.