SC: Governor can sanction minister's prosecution

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court today ruled that a governor can grant sanction to prosecute a minister though the government might not accord it.

The judgment was delivered in the case of two former ministers of Madhya Pradesh who were accused of releasing 7.5 acres of land illegally to the earlier owners though the Indore Development Authority had acquired it.

According to Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code, sanction of the government is required to prosecute government servants.

This provision is meant to protect the government servants from frivolous and vexatious litigation. But this provision has also been criticised as it protected the accused with high political connections.

The present judgment by the Constitution Bench headed by Justice Santosh Hegde has made significant change in the application of the provision to politicians in power.

In this case, the council of ministers denied sanction to prosecute the two former ministers, Rajendra Kumar Singh and Bishau Ram Yadav, maintaining that there was no prima facie case against them. But the governor granted sanction.

The former ministers challenged the governor's action in the high court, arguing that he should follow the advice of the council of ministers according to the Constitution.

The high court accepted their arguments and set aside the decision to grant sanction to prosecute them.

The state special police appealed to the Supreme Court against the high court decision. Allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court said "if the governor cannot act in his own discretion there would be a complete breakdown of the rule of law as much as it would then be open for governments to refuse sanction in spite of overwhelming material showing that a prima facie case was made out."

Justice SN Variava, writing for the Bench, said "democracy itself will be at stake" if the government refuses to accord sanction for prosecution against ministers in matters where prima facie a clear case for prosecution was made out.

"It would then lead to a situation where people in power may break law with impunity safe in knowledge that they will not be prosecuted as the requisite sanction will not be granted," he said.