The amended Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) seeks to strike a balance between the obvious need to tackle corruption by booking the guilty and protect honest government officials from harassment. Discuss. (200 words)
Refer – Business Standard
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IAS Parliament 6 years
KEY POINTS
· The amendments to the PCA aimed at shielding government officials, even the retired ones, from prosecution by making it mandatory for an investigating agency such as the CBI to take prior approval from the concerned competent authority even before conducting an inquiry.
· It also limits the deadline for deciding corruption cases to a maximum of two years.
· Both these changes will protect honest officials from either being drawn into a case without a just cause or being harassed endlessly as the case drags on.
· The law also punishes both the bribe giver as well as the bribe taker.
· This is important as earlier the bribe giver got away by just paying a penalty.
· One of the significant amendments is the definition of ‘criminal misconduct’ under Section 13 of the Act.
· The courts interpreted the “abuse of position to obtain pecuniary advantage to himself or any other person” so widely that any act of a public servant could be interpreted as a benefit to someone.
· The definition has now been narrowed down to only two offences — misappropriation of entrusted property and amassing assets disproportionate to known sources of income.
Way ahead
· Public servants need to be protected against unfair prosecution, but a genuine drive against corruption needs a package of legislative measures.
· These should contain “penal clauses, independent ombudsmen like Lokpal, time stipulated services delivery and whistle-blower protection”.
Shankaranand 6 years
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IAS Parliament 6 years
