Sanction for prosecution not required where deputation to a cooperative society did not make the officer a public servant.

A member of the Indian Administrative Service placed on deputation to a cooperative society running the Super Bazaars was not treated as a public servant within clause Twelfth of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code for section 197 CrPC purposes. A cooperative society registered under a statute, even if a body corporate, is not a corporation established by or under an Act merely because it is corporately constituted. Limited governmental control, funding, shareholding, or approval requirements did not make the officer employed in connection with the affairs of the Union. Previous sanction for prosecution was therefore not required, and the cognizance objection failed.

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Issues: Whether a member of the Indian Administrative Service, whose services were placed at the disposal of a cooperative society running the Super Bazaars, remained a public servant within clause Twelfth of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, so as to attract the sanction requirement under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: Clause Twelfth of section 21 protects persons in the service or pay of the Government, a local authority, a corporation established by or under an Act, or a Government company. The appellant, while on deputation to the cooperative society, was not in the service or pay of the Government and the society was not a corporation created by statute. A body merely incorporated under a statute is distinct from a corporation established by or under a statute; the latter owes its existence to the law itself, whereas the former owes its existence to the act of its members. The cooperative society, though a body corporate, was not a statutory corporation. The Super Bazaars were owned and managed by the society, not by the Union, and the limited governmental control, loan assistance, shareholding, and approval requirements did not make the appellant employed in connection with the affairs of the Union for section 197 purposes. The special deeming provisions in the All India Services rules were confined to those rules and could not enlarge the meaning of clause Twelfth of section 21 of the Penal Code.

Conclusion: The appellant was not a public servant within clause Twelfth of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and previous sanction under section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was not required. The objection to cognizance failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purpose of section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a cooperative society registered under a statute is not a corporation established by or under an Act merely because it is a body corporate; only a body created by statute, or a person actually employed in connection with the affairs of the Union, attracts the protection of clause Twelfth of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

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