Sonia Gokani, J. - (1.) At The Outset, This Court Palpates To Regurgitate the relevant observations of the Apex Court in the latest decision in the case of State of Karnataka, etc. v. Selvi J. Jayalalitha and others, etc., while dealing with Criminal Appeal Nos.300-303 of 2017 and allied matters, wherein the Apex Court has expressed its extreme concern over the issue of corruption in the country in different context of possession of disproportionate assets by the former Chief Minister of the State of Tamil Nadu and the coaccused Shashikala, as under : "(Per : Pinaki Chandra Ghose, J.) xxx xxx xxx Approach of Court in PC Cases 166. Qua the required orientation of a Court visavis offences under the Act, it has been inter alia emphatically observed in State of M.P. & Ors. Vs. Ram Singh, 2000 5 SCC 88, that corruption in a civilized society is a disease like cancer, which if not detected in time is sure to afflict the polity of the country leading to disastrous consequences. It was ruled that corruption is like a plague which is not only contagious but if not controlled spreads like fire in a jungle. It was proclaimed that corruption is opposed to democracy and social order, being not only anti people but aimed and targeted against them. It affects the economy and destroys the cultural heritage and therefore, unless it is nipped in the bud at the earliest, it is likely to cause turbulence, shaking the socioeconomicpolitical system in an otherwise healthy, wealthy, effective and vibrating society. 167. The history of the enactment of the 1947 Act was traced in R.S. Nayak Vs. A.R. Antulay, 1984 2 SCC 183 and a caveat was sounded to the effect that whenever a question of construction arises upon ambiguity or if two views are possible of a provision of an anti corruption law (then Act 1947), it would be the duty of the Court to adopt that construction which would advance the object underlying the statute, namely to make effective the provision for the prevention of bribery and corruption and at any rate not to defeat it. It was underscored that procedural delays and technicalities of law should not be permitted to defeat the object sought to be achieved by the statute and the overall public interest and the social object is to be borne in mind while interpreting the various provisions thereof and in deciding cases under the same. 168. In Niranjan Hemchandra Sashittal & Anr. Vs. State of Maharashtra, 2013 4 SCC 642, this Court while dwelling on the same theme, exposited as hereinbelow: "It can be stated without any fear of contradiction that corruption is not to be judged by decree, for corruption mothers disorder, destroys societal will to progress, accelerates undeserved ambitions, kills the conscience, jettisons the glory of the institutions, paralyses the economic health of a country, corrodes the sense of civility and mars the marrows of governance. It is worth noting that immoral acquisition of wealth destroys the energy of the people believing in honesty, and history records with agony how they have suffered. The only redeeming fact is that collective sensibility respects such suffering as it is in consonance with the constitutional morality." 169. A Constitution Bench of this Court in Subramanian Swamy Vs. Director, Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr., 2014 8 SCC 682, reiterated that corruption is an enemy of the nation and tracking down corrupt public servants and punishing such persons is a necessary mandate of the Act 1988." xxx xxx xxx (Per : Amitava Roy, J.) xxx xxx xxx 5. Corruption is a vice of insatiable avarice for selfaggrandizement by the unscrupulous, taking unfair advantage of their power and authority and those in public office also, in breach of the institutional norms, mostly backed by minatory loyalists. Both the corrupt and the corrupter are indictable and answerable to the society and the country as a whole. This is more particularly in re the peoples' representatives in public life committed by the oath of the office to dedicate oneself to the unqualified welfare of the laity, by faithfully and conscientiously discharging their duties attached thereto in accordance with the Constitution, free from fear or favour or affection or illwill. A selfserving conduct in defiance of such solemn undertaking in infringement of the community's confidence reposed in them is therefore a betrayal of the promise of allegiance to the Constitution and a condemnable sacrilege. Not only such a character is an anathema to the preambulor promise of justice, liberty, equality, fraternal dignity, unity and integrity of the country, which expectantly ought to animate the life and spirit of every citizen of this country, but also is an unpardonable onslaught on the constitutional religion that forms the bedrock of our democratic polity. 6. This pernicious menace stemming from moral debasement of the culpables, apart from destroying the sinews of the nation's structural and moral setup, forges an unfair advantage of the dishonest over the principled, widening as well the divide between the haves and have nots. Not only this has a demoralising bearing on those who are ethical, honest, upright and enterprising, it is visibly antithetical to the quintessential spirit of the fundamental duty of every citizen to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity to raise the nation to higher levels of endeavour and achievement. This virulent affliction triggers an imbalance in the society's existential stratas and stalls constructive progress in the overall wellbeing of the nation, besides disrupting its dynamics of fiscal governance. It encourages defiance of the rule of law and the propensities for easy materialistic harvests, whereby the society's soul stands defiled, devalued and denigrated. 7. Such is the militant dominance of this sprawling evil, that majority of the sensible, rational and discreet constituents of the society imbued with moral values and groomed with disciplinal ethos find themselves in minority, besides estranged and resigned by practical compulsions and are left dejected and disillusioned. A collective, committed and courageous turnaround is thus the present day imperative to free the civil order from the suffocative throttle of this deadly affliction. 8. Every citizen has to be a partner in this sacrosanct mission, if we aspire for a stable, just and ideal social order as envisioned by our forefathers and fondly cherished by the numerous selfeffacing crusaders of a free and independent Bharat, pledging their countless sacrifices and selfless commitments for such cause."
(2.) This Petition Preferred By The Petitioner Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenges the action of the Gujarat High Court Vigilance Cell Police Station on various grounds with an urge to transfer the investigation of the first information report being IC.R. No.1 of 2015, registered on July 26-27, 2015, with the Gujarat High Court Vigilance Cell Police Station, Ahmedabad, to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
(3.) The factual score that is essential to be depicted is that the petitioner is a practicing advocate registered with Bar Council of India and Bar Council of Gujarat, having Enrolment No.G/436/2009. Two judicial officers working at Vapi, District Valsad, viz. (1) Shri A.D. Acharya and (2) Shri P.D. Inamdar, are alleged to have indulged into serious corrupt practice. It is alleged that not only they distorted the evidence recorded before them, but they also compelled the advocates to approach them by pressurising them in different ways so as to continue their corrupt practice.;