Wrong prosecution sanction order results in discharge of IAS officer in DA case

 A wrong Prosecution Sanction Order (PSO) by the State government has resulted in discharge of an IAS officer (now retired) in a disproportionate assets case.

The Lokayukta special court (Bengaluru Rural) on Tuesday discharged former IAS officer V Chandrashekar on the grounds that once sanction is rejected, chargesheet cannot be filed after the retirement of the accused government servant.

V  Chandrashekar was raided by the Lokayukta police in 2007 when he was waiting for a posting as Deputy Commissioner, Bagalkot. After the investigation, the Lokayukta police found 47.1 percent disproportionate assets in the case and sent the request seeking PSO. Instead of forwarding the PSO request to Union government at Department of Personnel and Training, a high-level committee was constituted to look into the PSO request of an All India Service officer. The committee also sought the reply from the accused government officer and rejected the PSO stating that the calculation of DA doesn’t cross more than 15 percent.

“The then Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde wrote strongly worded letter to the chief secretary saying the government had no authority to deliberate on a final report sent for their perusal. The then chief secretary realised the faulty process and wrote back to the then ADGP Lokayukta police stating the letter rejecting the PSO has been withdrawn. A fresh letter seeking PSO from the Union government was sent to the government in 2013,” an official said.

According to Lokayukta police, V Chandrashekar filed a write petition seeking quashing of proceedings against him. The High Court after looking into the chief secretary’s letter withdrawing earlier rejection of sanction, directed the police to submit the final report after receiving the communication on PSO from the Centre. In September 2013, Chandrashekar retired from service and the chief secretary wrote to the ADGP Lokayukta in March 2014 stating since the officer has retired, no need of PSO to file the chargesheet. The Lokayukta police filed the chargesheet in March 2014 against V Chandrashekar.

The counsel appearing for Chandrashekar contended that since the ‘confidential’ letter from the State government in 2012 rejected PSO, the chargesheet cannot be filed after the retirement of the official. The prosecutor appearing for Lokayukta police stated that in the present case the State government wrongly passed an order rejecting sanction. The Lokayukta special court, however, allowed the contention placed by Chandrashekar and discharged.

Sources in the Lokayukta police said that a decision will be taken soon on filing an appeal in the case. “The court has relied upon two grounds, one in the event of rejection of PSO, chargesheet cannot be filed after the retirement of the official and also that no fresh application seeking PSO can be filed unless there is additional material in the report. We are taking legal opinion on the order and soon take a decision on filing an appeal in the case,” an official said.