W.Broome, J. - (1.) This application by Lala Ram (Pradhan of the Gaon Samaj of village Sahpur Gosna, district Mathura) and Jai Prasad (Lekhpal and secretary of the said Gaon Samaj) is directed against the orders of a first class Magistrate of Mathura rejecting their preliminary objections to a complaint under Sections 466, 468 and 471 I.P.C. that has been filed against them by the opposite-party Bhikki.
(2.) The allegations put forward by Bhikki in his complaint are that the two accused prepared records evidencing a fictitious auction of the land of a certain pond and purporting to show that the complainant gave the highest bid at the auction This was done, it is suggested, in order to make out that the complainant was in possession of the aforesaid pond as an auction-purchaser for a limited period and not on a permanent basis as a tenant.
(3.) The preliminary objection put forward by the applicants, which is being pressed in the present application, is that before they could be prosecuted sanction was needed under Section 197 Cr.P.C., which lays down that the State Government's previous sanction is necessary for the prosecution of "any public servant who is not removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the State Government" with regard to "any offence alleged to have been committed by him while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty.;