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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> </head> <body> <div style="font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:12px; text-align:justify"> <table width="800" border="0" style="border:1px solid #ccc;padding:5px;" align="center" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> Supreme Court Protection under Section 197 of the CrPC is not be available to public servant prosecuted under Section 48 of Water Act MANU/SC/0454/2021 - (13 Jul 2021) </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Noorulla Khan vs. Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and Anr.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" style="background-color:#FDEDCE">Present appeal challenges the order passed by the High Court. Sandur Gram Panchayat, Sandur, Karnataka and the Appellant, who at the relevant time was Chief Officer of said Gram Panchayat, were accused of having committed offences punishable under Sections 43 and 44 of The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (“the Water Act”). 
The appeal preferred by the Appellant was allowed only on the ground that, being a public servant, the Appellant was entitled to the protection under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) and in the absence of requisite sanction, his prosecution was invalid. The original complainant (Karnataka State Pollution Control Board) being aggrieved, filed before the High Court. By its judgment, the High Court set-aside the view taken by the lower Appellate Court. 
If the violation of the provisions of the Water Act was at the hands of a Department, subject to the satisfaction of the requirements under Section 48 of the Water Act, “the Head of the Department” would be deemed to be guilty. This would be subject to the defences which are available to him to establish whether the offence in question was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. By virtue of the decision of this Court in V.C. Chinappa Goudar v. Karnataka State Pollution Control Board & Another, because of deeming fiction under Section 48 of the Water Act, the protection under Section 197 of the CrPC would not be available and the matter ought to be considered de hors such protection. 
If the concerned public servant happens to be a Chief Officer or Commissioner of a Municipal Council or Town Panchayat, he cannot strictly be called “the Head of the Department of the Government”. Therefore, in terms of decision of this Court in Karnataka State Pollution Control Board v. B. Heera Naik, the matter would not come under Section 48 of the Water Act. But the matter would come directly under Section 47 of the Water Act. According to said decision, even in such cases, the deeming fiction available under Section 47 of the Water Act would dis-entitle the public servant from the protection under Section 197 of the CrPC. 
 If the offenders are other than public servants or where the principal offenders are corporate entities in private sectors, the question of protection under Section 197 would not arise of CrPC. The High Court was, therefore, right and justified in setting-aside the decision of the lower Appellate Court, which was purely based on the issue of the applicability of Section 197 of the CrPC. The High Court rightly remitted the matter to the lower Appellate Court to be considered afresh on merits. Appeal dismissed.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" ></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" >Tags : Public servants, Applicability, Provision</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr>  <td align="left" valign="top">Source : newsroom.manupatra.com</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Regards</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">Team Manupatra</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> </div> </body> </html>