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Informist, Thursday, Jul. 9, 2026

 

--HC OKs definitions of public duty, servant in Prevention of Corruption Act 

--CONTEXT: Former NSE MD challenged public duty, servant definitions in law 

--CONTEXT: HC order on NSE former MD Ramkrishna's plea in co-location case 

--HC: NSE performs public duty, MD can't be separated from NSE functions 

--HC OKs sanction to CBI to probe former MD Ramkrishna in co-location case 

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Thursday rejected a petition by Chitra Ramkrishna, former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange, challenging the definitions of 'public duty' and 'public servant' under The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The National Stock Exchange performs a public duty and Ramkrishna, who was its managing director and chief executive officer, can't be wholly separated from the functions performed by the NSE in which the public at large were involved, said a bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja. 

 

The high court also rejected Ramkrishna's plea challenging the sanction given by the exchange's board to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute her in the co-location case under the Prevention of Corruption Act. "We have rejected your submission on the sanction order. We do not find any merit in the present petition, the same, along with applications, is accordingly dismissed," said the high court. However, any observation made in the judgement will not have any influence on the trial before the trial court, said the bench. The verdict means that the trial court will proceed with the co-location case against Ramkrishna under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

 

Under the prevention of corruption law, a public duty is one in which the state, public or the community at large has an interest and a public servant refers to a person holding an office by virtue of which he is authorised or required to perform any public duty.

 

Ramkrishna, who headed the bourse between 2013 and 2016, was charged with illegal gratification through abuse of position and criminal conspiracy, among other offences. In April 2022, the CBI framed charges against Ramkrishna under sections of 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and 120(b) of the Indian Penal Code.

 

While section 13(1)(d) of the prevention of corruption law deals with illegal enrichment by a public servant through abuse of her authority, section 13 (2) says that an official can be sentenced up to seven years for such an offence.

 

Ramkrishna had argued that the definition of public duty and public servant were too expansive and had been enlarged to charge people who were not public servants but privately employed people. The National Stock Exchange is a private company registered under the companies law and yet, she was categorised as a public servant, Ramkrishna said. 

 

She had also challenged the sanction given by the exchange's board to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute Ramkrishna in the co-location case. "It is not even a proper sanction. It is a qualified sanction. It (NSE) says that sanction is being given in peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and that NSE does not concede that its employees are public servants," she had argued. 

 

The Central Bureau of Investigation, however, said all the issues raised by Ramkrishna were already settled by the Supreme Court, which had previously ruled that even a sprinkle of aid from the government was enough to categorise employees of an organisation as public servants.

 

The co-location case refers to alleged unlawful distribution of information from exchange servers to select stock brokers. The investigation bureau alleged that the exchange's data centre staff passed on information to unauthorised people at the time when servers of the exchange were switched on.  End 

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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