BENGALURU: THE Karnataka High Court has quashed the criminal case registered against the former chairman of D Devaraj Urs Truck Terminal Limited, DS Veeraiah, for misappropriation of funds, as no prior sanction was obtained to prosecute him.
“The prior approval under Section 17-A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act is admittedly not granted. Therefore, the prosecution wants to build its edifice on shifting sands. Sanction obtained post-facto under Section 19 of the PC Act cannot cure the threshold illegality of not having prior approval under Section 17-A of the PC Act. Therefore, the foundation being infirm, the structure cannot be sustained. Section 17-A of the PC Act cuts at the root of the matter. The petition thus deserves to succeed,” the court said.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order recently while allowing the petition filed by Veeraiah questioning the legality of the crime registered against him by the Managing Director of the Terminal on September 22, 2023, with Wilson Garden police station.
It was alleged in the complaint that works close to Rs 47.10 crore that were undertaken during the period of the petitioner and accused No.1 were found to be suspicious, as the works were awarded to the contractors without taking recourse to the provisions of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, 1999.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner contended that the petitioner, being a public servant, at the relevant point in time, working as chairman of a government enterprise, prior approval under Section 17-A of the PC Act 1988 ought to have been taken from the competent authority for any investigation to commence. Though the offence under the IPC was registered, it was factually, in its entirety, an offence under the PC Act, he argued.