Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

The short point taken by the respondent before the High Court was that as the word "public servant" has not been expressive defined in the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, it has borrowed the definition from s. 21 of the Indian Penal Code, such a definition amounts to legislation by incorporation, and therefore any subsequent amendment, addition or alteration in the Indian Penal Code would not at all affect the incorporated provision in the Prevention of Corruption Act. The High Court seems to have readily accepted this contention and has accordingly held that as the various amendments to s. 21 of the Indian Penal Code cannot apply to the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and therefore the respondent being only an employee of the Government Company does not fall within the ambit of public servant as defined in s. 21 of the Indian Penal Code prior to the amendment. In order of appreciate this point, it may be necessary to set out the scheme of the Prevention of Corruption Act-hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'-with particular reference to s. 21 of the Indian Penal Code-hereinafter referred to as 'the Penal Code'-which has been incorporated in the Act. To begin with, the preamble to the Act clearly shows that the Act has been passed for more effective prevention of bribery and corruption, bribery being a form of corruption. Section 2 of the Act runs thus:

These observations regarding the object of the Act obviously were based on the footing that the Act must be read as supplemental to the Penal Code, and therefore the definition borrowed from the Penal Code must be read into s. 2 of the Act not only at the time when it was borrowed but even at the material date when the offence is committed. This being the position it is manifest that by virtue of the amendments referred to above in the Penal Code which inserted twelfth clause to s.21 of the Penal Code the respondent clearly comes within the meaning of "public servant" and the High Court was in error in taking a view to the contrary. Further the Prevention of Corruption Act being a social legislation its provisions must be liberally construed so as to advance the object of the Act. This can only be done if we give extended meaning to the term "public servant" as referred to in s. 2 of the Act by applying the enlarged definition contained in clause 12 inserted in the Penal Code by the two amendments referred to above.