Bank officials are not covered under this section. S. 197 protects only public servants whose appointing authority is the Central Government or the State Government and not every public servant.
[A. Sreenivasa Reddy v. Rakesh Sharma, (2023) 8 SCC 711]
Case Comment: It is pertinent to note that the banking sector being governed by the Reserve Bank of India and considered as a limb of the State under Article 12 of the Constitution and also by virtue of Section 46A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the appellant herein is deemed to be a “public servant’ for the purpose of provisions under the PC Act, 1988.However, the same cannot be extended to the IPC. Assuming for a moment that the appellant herein should be considered as a “public servant” for the IPC sanction also, the protection available under Section 197 of the CrPC is not available to the appellant herein since, the conditions in built under Section 197 of the CrPC are not fulfilled. Held, “12. The High Court in its impugned judgment has not adverted o the above aspect and has only confined to the discussion as to whether the acts alleged of the appellant were in discharge of official duty. The High Court also had relied on the judgment of this Court in Parkash Singh Badal [ParkashSingh Badalv.State of Punjab, (2007) 1 SCC 1 : (2007) 1SCC (Cri) 193] . We, having come to the conclusion that the appellant being not a public servant removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the Government, sanction under Section 197 CrPC was not applicable. The appellant cannot claim protection under Section 197 CrPC. We are of the view that examination of further question as to whether the appellant was acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty was not required to be gone into, when he did not fulfil conditions for applicability of Section 197(1) CrPC.”
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