High Court seeks clarity on definition of public servant

By Express News Service  |   Published: 23rd February 2017 03:39 AM  |  

|  

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has directed the state government to inform it whether a person, who had been roped in as a judge at the recent state school arts festival in Kannur, would come within the definition of the public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). 

It was on a petition from a dance teacher, who had been one of the judges of the dance event at the school arts festival, the High Court issued the order.  The petitioner has sought quashing of the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau (VACB) case against him for fixing the results after allegedly taking money.  

According to the court,it was unable to figure out how a person, who had been one of the judges of the dance competition, could fit the definition of the public servant under the PCA. 

The statement filed by the DySP, who registered the FIR, did not explain how the accused qualified as a public servant. 

He referred to them as public servant merely because the petitioner had received remuneration from the government. 

“Mere payment of remuneration by the government cannot be the barometer for deciding whether a person is public servant or not. The payment must have been received as part of the official duty or service,” the court observed. Just evaluating a dance performance will not make a person a public servant unless he did it as part of any public office or service,” it said.