Delegated prosecutorial consent cannot be sub-delegated beyond the original grant unless express authority permits it.

Power to grant consent for prosecution under Section 7 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 remained vested in the Central Government, but was delegated only to the District Magistrate. A State notification could not validly confer that delegated Central Government power on an Additional District Magistrate by treating him as a District Magistrate for this purpose, unless the original delegation expressly allowed further sub-delegation. The principle in Hari Chand Aggarwal was applied to hold that an Additional District Magistrate cannot exercise a specially delegated Central Government power without authority for sub-delegation. The consent granted by the Additional District Magistrate was therefore invalid.

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Issues: Whether the consent for prosecution under Section 7 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, granted by the Additional District Magistrate pursuant to a State notification, was valid when the Central Government had delegated the power only to the District Magistrate.

Analysis: The power to accord consent for prosecution under Section 7 vested in the Central Government. That power had been delegated by the Central Government to the District Magistrate by notification. The State Government could not further delegate the same Central Government power to an Additional District Magistrate merely by clothing him with the powers of a District Magistrate under another notification. The earlier decision in Hari Chand Aggarwal supported the principle that an Additional District Magistrate cannot exercise a power specifically delegated by the Central Government to a District Magistrate unless the delegation itself authorises such further delegation.

Conclusion: The consent granted by the Additional District Magistrate was invalid, and the quashing of the prosecution was not justified.

Ratio Decidendi: A power delegated by the Central Government to a District Magistrate cannot be further sub-delegated by the State Government to an Additional District Magistrate unless the original delegation expressly permits such sub-delegation.

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