Senior Odisha cadre IAS officer Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya (IAS:2009:OD) finally got relief from the High Court, which has quashed a three-year-old vigilance case against him. The court ruled that the prosecution was undermined by a flawed sanction process under anti-corruption law while noting that “the issue relating to sanction discloses a serious procedural infirmity.”
The IAS officer is currently posted as Secretary of the Odia language, literature, and culture department.
The High Court judgment was passed on April 17 by the single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi. The High Court virtually set aside the order of the special vigilance court, which had taken cognisance of offences charged against Upadhyaya under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code.
The case against Upadhyaya was filed following allegations of illegal gratification demanded and accepted by him for clearing bills of a supplier when he was serving as Director of Horticulture.
Justice Panigrahi, while considering the criminal miscellaneous petition filed by Upadhyay, focused on the need for prior sanction under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and set aside the special judge’s order in the absence of a proper prosecution sanction.
The HC also flagged the delay in proceedings, noting that although cognisance was taken over two years ago, charges have not yet been framed. “Allowing the proceeding to continue despite the unresolved defect in sanction would only prolong a prosecution whose very initiation… is procedurally vulnerable,” Justice Panigrahi opined.
While observing that the issue went to the “foundational legality of the prosecution,” Justice Panigrahi quashed the cognisance order and all consequential proceedings against the officer. The judge, however, said that the competent authority was at liberty to reconsider the issue of granting prosecution sanction afresh in accordance with law.
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