The Union government has reminded the central and state government and UTs to strictly observe the uniform standard operating procedures (SOPs) it had issued for police officers to seek mandatory prior approval before conducting any enquiry, Inquiry or investigation against allegedly corrupt public servants. The amendment was incorporated in the Prevention of Corruption Act in July 2018 but its enforcement took a long period in the process of Presidential assent and in notifying it. This shows the government is always in hurry to pass the bills and amendments in the Parliament slow in its enforcement and implementation.
There have been cases where the amended and required uniformity have not been observed by the Police, CBI and other investigating agencies having not adopted the procedure under amended Section 17 A of the PC Act 1988. Many a time the police were often reluctant to take cognizance of such information or complaints against the powerful bureaucrats, public servants mostly politicians. According to the Personnel Ministry, an amendment carried out in the over 30-year-old Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988 in July 2018 bars a police officer from conducting any enquiry or inquiry or investigation into any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant without the previous assent of the competent authorities.Moreover, to obtain such prior approval against the acts of corruption by powerful people are not easy and rarely tried by the police.
The DoPT circular issued on Sept 03 said, the SOPs were issued to standardise and operationalise procedures with a view to achieving uniform and effective implementation for prior approval processes. They provide for stage-wise processing of information received by a police officer, specify the rank of the police officer to seek prior approval and lay down a single-window procedure for it among others, said the order issued to secretaries of the central and state government departments.
As per the ministry order, the SOP makes it mandatory for the Director-General of Police to seek approval for proceeding with an investigation against Union ministers, Members of Parliament, Ministers of state governments, Members of the state legislature, Judge of the Supreme Court and High Court, and Chairpersons or Managing Directors of public sector enterprises and public sector banks. Without prior approval, the investigation will be deemed illegal. In a way the new amendment has made it difficult for police and investigating agencies to act independently and they would be now subjected to the system of seeking sanction to political interference which otherwise was already in vogue.
“All administrative authorities, including ministries and departments of the central and the state governments, besides the investigating agencies, have been asked to ensure strict compliance of the SOPs,” it added.
For Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, Supreme Court Judges and Public Sector Undertaking chief only a Director General of police or in case of CBI, the director can approve the probe. For senior bureaucrats in the government and senior management in the PSU it can be DGP/ Director or ADG rank officers. IGs can decide on middle management while DIGs on junior management level officers.
The order makes it mandatory for a police officer to verify and specify acts of commission or omission made by the accused public servants and “whether such acts are relatable to the official function or duty discharged by such public servants specific to the office/post held at the time of the commission of the alleged offence”. While this move would standardise and operationalise procedures, it could make it more difficult for investigation teams to enquire against Ministers or public servants.
