Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

That being so, Section 6A of the Act must be meaningfully and realistically read, only as an injunction to the executive and not as an injunction to a constitutional court monitoring an investigation under Article 32 of the Constitution in an exercise of judicial review and of issuing a continuing mandamus.

18. In Subramanian Swamy v Director, Central Bureau of Investigation and Another3 the Supreme Court has observed that office of public power cannot be the workshop of personal gain. A person howsoever high he may be, the law is above him. This signature tune in Vineet Narain (supra) was reiterated in this matter and adding further it was observed that corruption is an enemy of nation and tracking down 2 (2014) 2 SCC 532 3 (2014) 8 SCC 682 corrupt public servant, howsoever high he may be, and punishing such person is a necessary mandate under the PC Act, 1988. The status or position of public servant does not qualify such public servant from exemption from equal treatment. The decision-making power does not segregate corrupt officers into two classes as they are common crimedoers and have to be tracked down by the same process of inquiry and investigation. The Supreme Court also observed that corruption corrodes the moral fabric of the society and corruption by public servants not only leads to corrosion of the moral fabric of the society but is also harmful to the national economy and national interest, as the persons occupying high posts in the Government by misusing their power due to corruption can cause considerable damage to the national economy, national interest and image of the country.

19. In Subramanian Swamy (supra) the Supreme Court highlighted the need of fair and independent investigation observing thus in para 86 :

86. The Criminal justice system mandates that any investigation into the crime should be fair, in accordance with law and should not be tainted. It is equally important that interested or influential persons are not able to misdirect or highjack the investigation so as to throttle a fair investigation resulting in the offenders escaping the punitive course of law. These are important facets of the rule of law. Breach of rule of law, in our opinion, amounts to negation of equality under Article 14.