Prosecution against a public servant without sanction cannot

The Madras High Court today held that prosecution launched against a public servant without obtaining permission as contemplated under CrPc cannot be sustained.
Justice T S Sivagnanam who quashed the complaints filed against certain officials of Southern Railway, including K Masthan Rao, Deputy Chief Engineer in Vellore by the Inspector of Factories Vellore, said "by following the decisions of Supreme Court it is held that the prosecution launched against the petitioners, who are public servants, without obtaining permission as contemplated under section 197 of CrPc cannot be sustained and accordingly has to be quashed."
The Inspector of Factories conducted an inspection at the Southern Railway Engineering Workshop, Arakkonam, and filed a complaint against the officials for violating certain provisions of Fire Safety Law.

The officials contended that they being public servants appointed by the Centre, the complaints were filed without obtaining sanction under section 197 of CrPc.
The Judge said the "complaint is made without application of mind. The complainant did not give an opportunity to the officials to rectify the so called defects and the show cause notices itself was issued with a threat of prosecution and it is a good ground to quash the complaint."
A sanction under section 197 Crpc was indispensable to obtain permission for launching prosecution against public servant, the judge said.