Government sanction for probing senior officers not needed: SC

The Supreme Court Tuesday quashed Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act that mandates the CBI to take prior sanction of the government before investigating an officer of the rank of joint secretary and above in corruption cases.

The apex court's Constitution Bench of Chief Justice R.M. lodha, Justice A.K. Patnaik, Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya, Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla said Section 6A discriminates and divides the bureaucracy into two sets of officers and shields those at the senior level.

The court said the government could not protect one of them while leaving the other to fend for himself. A corrupt servant is a corrupt servant and corruption is enemy of the nation, the court said. The verdict reading down Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, came on a petition by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.