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Can the Chief Justice of a High Court or any of its puisne Judges be prosecuted for an offence punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act')? This is the main question arising for decision in this appeal. The appellant, K. Veeraswami, a former Chief Justice of the Madras High Court filed an application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Proce- dure, 1973 (Criminal M.P. No. 265 of 1978) to quash the proceedings in C.C. No. 46 of 1977 in the Court of the Special Judge, Madras, initiated on a charge-sheet accusing him of the offence of criminal misconduct under Section 5(1)(e) punishable under Section 5(2) of the Act, as amended by the Amendment Act of 1964. The matter was heard by a full bench of the High Court which dismissed the application by order dated 27.4. 1979 according to the majority opinion of Natarajan and Mohan, JJ. while Balasubrahmanyan, J. dissent- ed. This appeal is by a certificate granted by the High Court under Articles 132(1) and 134(1)(c) of the Constitu- tion of India in view of the important question of law involved for decision.