By IANS,
New Delhi : The central government Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking the review of its Jan 31 verdict, which held that the sanction for the prosecution of a public servant could be applied for even before a complaint is filed against him/her.
Justice G.S.Singhvi and Justice A.K.Ganguly (since retired), constituting a bench, had in their verdict on a plea by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy ruled that application for seeking sanction for prosecution could be made even before the filing of a complaint.
Swamy had moved the court pointing to the long time taken by the prime minister in deciding his application for the sanction for the prosecution of former telecom minister A. Raja.
The review petition criticised this verdict, saying it was wrong and legally untenable and no sanction for the prosecution could be given without court taking cognizance of the offence alleged against a public servant.
It also has challenged the scope of the scrutiny by the competent authority after the application for seeking sanction for prosecution was filed on three other grounds.
The review petition has challenged the adverse observations made against some unnamed officers of the Prime Minister’s Office contending that such observations could not have been made without making them a party.
It has also sought the review of the time limit fixed by the court on deciding on the application seeking sanction to prosecute a public servant, saying this was violative of the Article 14 of the Constitution.