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Informist, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court Tuesday delivered a split verdict on a petition challenging Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 that mandates government approval for police officers to probe public servants. While B.V. Nagarathna struck down the law as unconstitutional, Justice K.V. Viswanathan upheld the constitutional validity of Section 17A with some additional directions. The top court directed the matter to be placed before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant for constituting a higher bench to examine the issues afresh.

 

Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, introduced by the 2018 amendment, requires prior approval from the government before a police officer can investigate a public servant for offences related to decisions or recommendations made during official duties. 

 

Justice Nagarathna said Section 17A was nothing but an attempt to resurrect the section that was struck down by the top court in 1997 and, thus, was an attempt to protect the corrupt. Allegations of corruption couldn't be thwarted at the threshold, the judge said. The object to Section 17A to protect honest officers couldn't override the objective of preventing corruption, she said.

 

Section 17A grants protection to corrupt government officers, said Justice Nagarathna, adding that it protects offenders under the Prevention of Corruption Act. If no approval is given by the government for preliminary inquiry, then truth would be hanging in balance, said the judge. She rejected Justice Viswanathan's suggestion for mandating Lokpal enquiry before the government's nod to police public servants. "Can we take the government to include lokayukta and lokpal? That cannot be done. If the Lokpal Act is repealed someday, then what happens to Section 17A? This is not hypothetical and could be a reality too someday," the judge said.

 

Corruption, Justice Nagarathna said, was the result of greed and envy. A person might compete with another to claim materialistic superiority, she said, adding that there was a need to develop a spiritual bent of mind for dedicated service to the nation.

 

On the other hand, Justice Viswanathan said that the appropriate course to follow would be to give complaints against public servants to Lokpal or Lokayukta bodies. If merit is found, then an enquiry could be ordered under the enquiry wing; if not, the case could be rejected, said Justice Viswanathan. If the bodies find a prima facie case, they can send their recommendation to the government, after which the latter may give a nod to the police to probe the public servant.

 

Striking down Section 17A of the 1988 Act would be akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater, said Justice Viswanathan, adding that the cure would be worse than the disease. There was a need to read a provision harmoniously rather than striking it down, said the judge. If Section 17A was invalidated on the grounds that prior approval was not needed, it would lead to coercive steps even with the public servants discharging duties and would thus be regressive, he said. 

 

The object of Section 17A was not to condone illegal acts, but to have a screening mechanism, said Justice Viswanathan. According to the Bhagavad Gita, for a self-respecting man, death is preferred to disrepute and in this age of technology and social media, the act of being paraded in court is irreversible, even if proven innocent later, the judge said.

 

The top court was hearing a petition by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, challenging the 2018 amendment made by the government to introduce Section 17A to the 1988 Act. The petitioner had argued that Section 17A allowed members of the executive, including ministers who might themselves be involved in the decision-making process, to decide whether an investigation should commence, leading to conflict of interest. The goverenment said that Section 17A only protected decision-making in official functions and was intended to prevent frivolous and vexatious complaints, which could lead to policy paralysis.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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