: Setting aside a single judge's order, Madras High Court has ruled that Cooperative society employees should be regarded as public servants and be brought under the Prevention of Corruption Act, in view of rampant corruption among them.
"It is evident that corrupt practices indulged by public servant" is alarming and courts are bound to widen the scope of interpretation of the words public servant," a division bench comprising Justices N Paul Vasanthakumar and P R Shivakumar said in its order yesterday.
The matter relates to a cane officer of Perambalur Sugar Mills, posted at Tiruthani Cooperative Sugar Mills Limited who was arrested in March 2009 on charges of demanding and accepting bribe from his subordinate for a transfer.
He was immediately suspended. But he was reinstated and retired too, after a single judge declared he was not a public servant and so could not be made to face PC Act proceedings.
The mill then moved court.
Advocate General A L Somayaji said sugar mill staff are common cadre employees as per Government Orders and their salaries are fixed by the government.These mills do public duty
and, therefore, its employees are public servants, he said.
Concurring with his submissions, the bench said "any person who is an office-bearer or an employee of educational, scientific, social, cultural or other institution, whatever manner would be, receiving or having received any financial assistance from the central or any state government, or local or other public authority, will come under the definition of public servant."
Noting that governments had "deep and perverse control" over sugar mills, whose staff were performing public duty, the judges said it was beyond doubt that the mills and its workers are performing public duty like private aided/unaided recognised educational institutions, coming within the definition of Sec 2(c)(viii) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Setting aside the single judge order,the bench then asked Tiruvallur Chief Judicial Magistrate to dispose of the case, pending for four years now, within two months and send a report to the high court registry.
