Valid sanction for prosecution requires application of mind to relevant material; undisclosed report-based approval was held invalid.

Sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act is valid only if the sanctioning authority considers the relevant materials and applies its mind to the facts and evidence before granting approval. A sanction order need not be elaborate, but it must show that the authority actually evaluated the material placed before it. Where sanction is said to rest only on an undisclosed police report and the underlying record is not produced, the defect vitiates the sanction for non-application of mind. The Supreme Court held the sanction invalid and the conviction unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 was invalid for non-application of mind, thereby rendering the conviction unsustainable.

Analysis: The sanctioning authority must consider the relevant materials before granting sanction, because sanction is intended to protect a public servant from unwarranted prosecution and is a condition precedent to the prosecution. A sanction order need not be pedantic, but it must show that the authority applied its mind to the facts and evidence placed before it. Where the order states that sanction was granted solely on the basis of an undisclosed police report, and the report or underlying records are not produced to show what material was actually considered, the defect goes to the validity of the sanction. The reliance placed on the curative effect of minor irregularities in sanction does not apply where the sanction suffers from total non-application of mind.

Conclusion: The sanction was held invalid for want of proper application of mind, and the conviction could not be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act is valid only if the sanctioning authority has considered the relevant materials and applied its mind; a sanction founded merely on an undisclosed report without proof of the materials before the authority is vitiated by non-application of mind.

---