The High Court of Karnataka has quashed criminal proceedings and probe against three retired IAS officers, initiated by a special court on a private complaint.
These officers are – Amita Prasad, T.M. Vijay Bhaskar and E.V. Ramana Reddy. While T M Vijay Bhaskar (1983 batch) retired as chief secretary of Karnataka, Amita Prasad (1985 batch) and E V Ramana Reddy (1988 batch) retired as additional chief secretary.
As per the complaint, six officers of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department had allegedly caused loss of Rs 269 crore to the exchequer due to misappropriation of funds during 2009-15.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order on the petitions filed by retired IAS officers. The three officers had served in the RDPR Department during 2011-15.
The High Court said the special court could not have taken cognisance in the absence of sanction from the competent authority for proceeding against them. However, the High Court has kept open the issue of grant of sanction.
Complaint
A case of misappropriation of funds was filed based on the complaint filed by one Narayanaswamy, an RTI activist. The crime was registered under various Sections of IPC, and also under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
A special court for cases of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Bengaluru, had in January 2022 taken cognisance of the complaint and ordered an investigation against them. On April 18, 2022, a direction was issued to the then ACB, to conduct an investigation and submit a report.
The petitioners had claimed that as public servants at the relevant time, it was mandatory to obtain sanctions to prosecute under Section 197 of CrPC and also Section 19 of the PC Act
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