AFTAB ALAM, J. - (1.) LEAVE granted.
(2.) THESE two appeals are filed against orders passed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in two separate cases though arising from the same set of facts. The appellant, Hardeep Singh was engaged in running a coaching centre, called :Deepika Classes: where students were given tuition to prepare them for entrance tests for different professional courses. On June 8, 1992, it was reported to the Collector, Jabalpur, Raghav Chandra that the appellant had asked some of his students to pay him Rs.50,000/- for giving them the question papers for the pre- medical test in three subjects. The Collector decided to set up a trap for catching the appellant. The complainant before the Collector had with him only Rs.10,000/- at that time. The Collector, therefore, called the City Magistrate and instructed him to take out Rs.10,000/- from the Collectorate Nazarat. The currency notes taken out from the Nazarat were marked and the decoy was sent to pay to the appellant Rs.20,000/-, including the money taken out from the Nazarat. Then a raid was conducted at the house of the appellant in which Rs. 20,000/- with the marked currency notes of Rs.10,000/- were recovered. The appellant was arrested and a criminal case (Criminal case No. 314 of 2004) was instituted against him under Section 420 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 3/4 of The [Madhya Pradesh] Recognized Examinations Act, 1937. He was brought to the police station in handcuffs and his photographs in handcuffs appeared in the local newspapers. The police submitted charge sheet in the case on the basis of which the appellant was put up on trial. The trial went on, as is not uncommon in this country for several years at the end of which he was acquitted on August 26,2004. Even while facing the trial, the appellant filed a complaint before the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Jabalpur (which was registered as Criminal Case No.66/2000) alleging that the Collector Raghav Chandra and other Government functionaries, named as accused in the complaint had committed offences punishable under Sections 395, 468, 469 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The appellant's complaint was also based on the raid conducted by the Collector along with the police officials at his house on June 8, 1992. The learned Magistrate dismissed the complaint for want of sanction under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Against the order dismissing the complaint, the appellant moved the Sessions Court in revision. The revision was allowed and as directed by the Sessions Court the appellant's complaint came to be registered.
(3.) THE accused in the complaint filed by the appellant then moved the High Court in a quashing application (Miscellaneous Criminal Case No. 1676/2000) and the High Court by order dated September 17, 2002 allowed the application holding that the complaint was not maintainable against the public servants in the absence of sanction under Section 197 Cr.P.C. THE appellant challenged the order of the High Court before this Court in SLP(C) No. 179/ 2003, but it was dismissed in limine. The appellant, then, moved the State Government for grant of sanction under Section 197 Cr.P.C. for prosecution of Raghav Chandra and the other Government officers named as accused in his complaint. The State Government, however, refused to give sanction and rejected his application by order dated December 12, 2006.;