Valid sanction for corruption prosecution depends on competence to remove the public servant at the relevant time; invalid delegation defeats conviction.

Sanction for prosecution under section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 is valid only if granted by the authority competent, at the time of the alleged offence, to remove the public servant from office. The power to appoint ordinarily carries the power to dismiss or remove under section 16 of the General Clauses Act unless a contrary intention appears. On the service rules examined, the delegation relied on did not extend to the Chief Engineer, North Western Zone, because the relevant order covered only Chief Engineers of the Commands and no valid delegation to the Zonal Chief Engineer before the sanction date was shown. The sanction was therefore invalid, and the conviction could not stand.

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Issues: Whether the sanction for prosecution was validly accorded by an authority competent to remove the public servant from office.

Analysis: The governing test under section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 is whether the authority granting sanction was, at the time of the alleged offence, competent to remove the public servant from service. The power to appoint ordinarily includes the power to dismiss or remove unless a different intention appears under section 16 of the General Clauses Act. On the relevant service rules, the Court examined whether the Chief Engineer, North Western Zone, had been validly delegated the appointing power for Class III posts. The delegation relied upon by the State was held to extend only to the Chief Engineers of the Commands, not to the later-created Zonal Chief Engineers, who were a distinct class and remained under the administrative control of the Command Chief Engineers. No valid order delegating appointing power to the Zonal Chief Engineer before the sanction date was shown.

Conclusion: The sanction was not accorded by the competent authority and was invalid; the conviction could not stand.

Ratio Decidendi: For sanction under section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, the decisive test is whether the sanctioning authority was competent, on the date of the alleged offence, to remove the public servant from office, and a delegation of appointing power must clearly extend to that authority before the sanction can be valid.

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