Thane court discharges civic officer in 2017 bribery case due to invalid sanction

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A Thane court has discharged a civic officer from the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in a 2017 bribery case, stating that the prosecution's sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act was not valid. The ruling was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Suryakant S Shinde on April 4 and a copy of the court's order was made available on Saturday, according to PTI.

The officer in question, Dr Prakash Harishchandra Jadhav, aged 55 at the time of the incident, was serving as an in-charge medical officer (Class-1) with MBMC. He had been accused of soliciting liquor bottles as bribe in exchange for facilitating the complainant's appointment as a medical officer.

The complaint was filed by Dr Vishnukant N Sharma, and the charges alleged that Jadhav demanded several bottles of alcohol in December 2017. The chargesheet was submitted in September 2018 under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

However, before the case could proceed to trial, both the prosecution and the defence jointly asked the court to first determine whether the sanction granted to prosecute Jadhav was valid.

During proceedings, the court examined Balaji Namdevrao Khatgaonkar, who was the then municipal commissioner and the official who had signed off on the sanction for prosecution. Khatgaonkar claimed he had reviewed key documents including the FIR, panchanama (spot investigation records), and other investigative materials before granting the go-ahead under Section 59A of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act.

However, in cross-examination, the commissioner admitted that the post held by the accused was equivalent in rank to that of an additional commissioner. The court noted that under Section 56(1)(a) of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, amended in 2011, a municipal commissioner does not have the authority to dismiss or prosecute an officer ranked equal to or higher than an assistant commissioner without prior approval from the corporation.

As per PTI, the judge concluded that the sanction was rendered legally void, since it lacked the mandatory corporation approval.

"In view of provisions of section 56(1)(a)... the commissioner cannot dismiss the municipal officer without approval of the corporation," the court stated. "Therefore, the sanction accorded by the commissioner without such approval cannot be treated as valid in the eyes of law."

The court thus ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the legitimacy of the sanction and discharged Dr Jadhav from all charges, as per PTI reports.

(With inputs from PTI)