{"id":37624,"date":"2018-11-27T17:42:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T12:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=37624"},"modified":"2018-11-27T17:42:50","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T12:12:50","slug":"sc-seeks-govt-reply-on-petition-challenging-amendments-to-prevention-of-corruption-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sc-seeks-govt-reply-on-petition-challenging-amendments-to-prevention-of-corruption-act\/","title":{"rendered":"SC seeks govt reply on petition challenging amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/sc-seeks-govt-reply-on-petition-challenging-amendments-to-prevention-of-corruption-act\/article25600549.ece?homepage=true\"><strong>SC seeks govt reply on petition challenging amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The Supreme Court issued a notice to the central government on a petition, filed by the Centre for Public Interest, against amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Important Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Background:<\/strong> The Centre has notified amendments to the PC Act earlier this year which introduced stringent penalties for bribe givers and bribe seekers once their culpability in the act was proven.<\/li>\n<li><strong>About the amendment:<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>The petition objected to the introduction of <strong>Section 17A(1)<\/strong>, which states that prior approval must be sought from the government before an investigation is initiated against any of its officers.<\/li>\n<li>Earlier, such approval was necessary only for inquiries against officials above the rank of a joint secretary.<\/li>\n<li>The amended legislation also provides<strong> immunity from arrest<\/strong> to all officers. Earlier, only officers above the rank of a joint secretary had this immunity.<\/li>\n<li>The petition also questioned the removal from the Act of <strong>Section 13 (1) (d) (ii)<\/strong>, which made abuse of their position by a public servant an offence and has demanded that the provision be<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong>Criticism:<\/strong>The legislation came in for strident criticism because it made the investigative process more cumbersome.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Critics of the amended Act also claim that Section-17A \u201cviolates of Article-14, 19 and Article-21 of the Constitution of India\u201d and that it also takes away or abridges the fundamental rights of complainants of fair investigation as well as equality before the law.<\/li>\n<li>The seeking of permission in itself becomes a cause for corruption as it introduces yet another discretion, at the crucial stage of commencement of investigation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong>In favor of amendments: <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Centre on the other hand, has maintained that the amended legislation serves as a <strong>strong deterrent <\/strong>against corruption while it also safeguards conscientious bureaucrats against motivated complaints.<\/li>\n<li>Votaries of the amended Act state that it had <strong>increased the punishment<\/strong> for those found guilty of offering a bribe from the previous mandated jail term of six months to three years to a more stringent \u201cup to seven years imprisonment\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>The amended law also provides for a sentence of \u201cbetween five to 10 years\u201d for <strong>repeat offenders. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It also stipulates that investigation and trial against government employees alleged of crimes under that Act must be completed within two years and if this condition is not met then a maximum<strong> extension<\/strong> of another two years may be granted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-37618\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/bir.jpg?resize=528%2C329&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/bir.jpg?w=528&amp;ssl=1 528w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/bir.jpg?resize=150%2C93&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/bir.jpg?resize=300%2C187&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SC seeks govt reply on petition challenging amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act News: The Supreme Court issued a notice to the central government on a petition, filed by the Centre for Public Interest, against amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act. Important Facts: Background: The Centre has notified amendments to the PC Act earlier&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sc-seeks-govt-reply-on-petition-challenging-amendments-to-prevention-of-corruption-act\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">SC seeks govt reply on petition challenging amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700774154,"cached_date":1704777130},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}