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Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026

 

--SC rejects former NSE CEO, MD plea against definitions of public duty in law 

--SC rejects former NSE CEO, MD plea against definitions of public servant 

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

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

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Tuesday rejected a petition by Chitra Ramkrishna, former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange, challenging the definition of 'public duty' and 'public servant' under The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Upholding the Delhi High Court's ruling, the apex court said, "The petitioner(Ramkrishna) was the MD and CEO of NSE. The argument is that NSE being a private or non government company, it cannot be said that the petitioner was discharging a public duty. We are of the view that this point can be raised in the course of the trial. Let this issue be decided by the trial court on its own merits".  

 

On Jul. 9, the high court had said that 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. The high court had 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. 

 

Tuesday, the top court said that it is not the case that a special court loses jurisdiction if they find Ramkrishna is not a public servant. "We are of the view that no error could be said to have been committed by the high court in passing the impugned judgement," said the apex court. 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 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 CBI 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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