- (1.) Exhibiting the deep concern with regard to the corruption in public life, the Hon'ble Apex Court in case Dr. Subramanian Swamy v. Dr. Manmohan Singh And Another, 2012 1 RCR(Cri) 720, has ruled that "Today, corruption in our country not only poses a grave danger to the concept of constitutional governance, it also threatens the very foundation of Indian democracy and the Rule of Law. The magnitude of corruption in our public life is incompatible with the concept of a socialist, secular democratic republic. It cannot be disputed that where corruption begins all rights end. Corruption devalues human rights, chokes development and undermines justice, liberty, equality, fraternity which are the core values in our preambular vision. Therefore, the duty of the Court is that any anti- corruption law has to be interpreted and worked out in such a fashion as to strengthen the fight against corruption. That is to say in a situation where two constructions are eminently reasonable, the Court has to accept the one that seeks to eradicate corruption to the one which seeks to perpetuate it."
(2.) Sequelly, in case Billa Nagul Sharief v. State of A.P., 2010 11 SCC 575, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has noticed the feeling of a common man that "when the work is enshrined to different persons bribe is demanded by one of them, when all are invariably in collusion, cannot be lost sight of. If Senior Officers ensure that the works of the citizens are done without payment of bribe, Junior Officers and employee may abandon the demand and this country would not have prominently figured as one of the most corrupt nations of the World, as it is widely accepted that the corruption flows from the top." India is passing through a very crucial phase of corruption. Perhaps, time has now come, for one and all of us, to take effective steps to control it. The enactments of The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter to be referred as "the P.C.Act) and The Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003 (for brevity "the CVC Act") are the appropriate steps in the right direction to eradicate the corrupt practice by certain categories of public servants and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
(3.) The epitome of the relevant facts and material, which needs a necessary mention for the limited purpose of deciding the core controversy, involved in the instant petition and emanating from the record, is that, petitioner N.K.Mehta, during his posting as Deputy General Manager in Punjab National Bank (in short "the PNB"), Credit Division, Zonal Office, Chandigarh from 26.4.2005 to 5.4.2007, was stated to have indulged in the rampant corruption being a public servant alongwith other bank officers and other co-accused. Now he has retired from his service with effect from 28.2.2010. According to the prosecution that the Promoter-Directors of M/s Balaji Manganese Private Limited (for short "the Company") had approached the branch office of PNB, Industrial Area, Chandigarh for grant of loan, for setting up a Ferro Manganese Unit. Mr.B.P.Chopra was the General Manager, whereas petitioner N.K.Mehta and R.S.Alag were working as Deputy General Manager of PNB Zonal Office at the relevant time. Mr.Manoj Goel, his wife Neeru Goel and Pawan Bansal were the Promoter-Directors of the Company. They prepared the false, fabricated documents and used the same as genuine, which were accepted as such by the bank officers (accused). They were successful in fraudulently obtaining the loan of about Rs.16 crores in violation of the rules & regulations, for extraneous consideration, for installing a Captive Power Plant. The petitioner and other accused bank officers were instrumental to sanction and disbursed the term loan on forged and fabricated documents. The Promoter-Directors of the Company did not set up the Captive Power Plant, instead syphoned off, misappropriated the loan amount and committed the fraud with the bank in this regard.;