The Supreme Court has once again taken a clear stand – courts should not stay the conviction of public servants found guilty on corruption charges.
A division bench of Justices Sandeep Mehta and Prasanna B. Varale refused to grant relief to the petitioner, a public servant convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, insisting that there was no error in the Gujarat High Court judgment that suspended his sentence but did not stay the conviction.
"This Court has clearly laid down in K.C. Sareen v. CBI, Chandigarh (2001) 6 SCC 584 and Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi v. M.N. Sharma (2008) 8 SCC 549 that Courts should refrain from staying the conviction of public servants on charges of corruption," the bench said.
Read also: Supreme Court to Hear Plea Against Maratha Reservation in July
The petitioner was convicted for the offences under
- Sections 7 read with Section 12 and
- Sections 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
As per the order of the trial court:
- For the offence under Section 7 read with Section 12 he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 2 years and pay a fine of ₹3,000.
- Further, for the offence under Section 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 3 years and pay a fine of ₹5,000.
Read also: NEET-PG 2024: Petition in Supreme Court Against Conversion of Chandigarh UT Quota to All India
After being convicted, he appealed to the Gujarat High Court, which on April 3, 2023, accepted his plea for suspension of sentence and granted him bail, but did not stay the conviction. Dissatisfied with this, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court seeking stay of conviction.
However, the apex court stressed its earlier judgments and dismissed the plea.
The court said, "Facewise, we do not find any reasonable reason to take a different view. In such a situation, we are of the firm view that there is no infirmity in the impugned order to interfere."
Read also: Supreme Court Refuses to Grant Bail to PFI Leader AS Ismail on Medical Grounds, Seeks Report on
The Supreme Court thus dismissed the appeal, observing that it had no merit, and reaffirmed that convictions in corruption cases involving public servants should not be casually stayed.
Case Title – Raghunath Bansropan Pandey v. State of Gujarat
Case No. – Special Leave Petition (Criminal) Diary No. 4666/2025
