‘Anti-graft law covers deemed universities’

Officials are ‘public servants’, says SC

29/04/2020, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has held that bribery and corruption in a deemed university can be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Individuals, authorities or officials connected to a deemed university, whatever be their role or designation, come under the definition of a ‘public servant’. They can be tried and punished under the anti-corruption law, the court said.

Deemed universities come within the ambit of the term ‘university’ in Section 2(c)(xi) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.

A deemed institution under the University Grants Commission Act of 1956 has the same common public duty like a university to confer academic degrees, which are recognised in the society.

Officials of a deemed varsity, though not seen as public servants in the conventional sense, perform duties in the discharge of which the State, the public and the community at large has an interest, a three-judge Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana reasoned in a judgment pronounced on April 27.

“The object of the PC Act was not only to prevent the social evil of bribery and corruption, but also to make the same applicable to individuals who might conventionally not be considered public servants. The purpose under the PC Act was to shift focus from those who are traditionally called public officials, to those individuals who perform public duties. Keeping the same in mind, it cannot be stated that a deemed university and the officials therein, perform any less or any different a public duty,” Justice Ramana, who authored the main judgment shared with Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, observed.