Electricity board employees are public servants

New Delhi, Apr 15: The Supreme Court has ruled that employees of state electricity boards are public servants and can be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act(PCA) 1988.

The ruling was handed down by the apex court bench comprising Justice S B Sinha and Justice Markandey Katju while dismissing the appeal of Naresh Kumar Madan, a civil engineer in the Madhya Pardesh Electricity Board, who was caught red handed while taking a bribe of Rs 1000 for grant of an electrical connection.

While brushing aside the contention of the petitioner that he was not a public servant as per the definition of a public servant under Section 21 of IPC, the court noted, ''the officers of state electricity boards are required to carry out public functions. They are public authorities. Their action in one way or the other may entail civil or evil consequences to the consumers of electrical energy. They may prosecute a person. They are empowered to enter into the house of the board's consumers. It is only for effective and proper execise of those powers, the statute provides that they would be public servants. We, therefore, fail to see any reason as to why the appellant would not answer the description of a public servant within the provisions of the said Act.''

The court also noted that a state government exercises a deep and pervasive control over the affairs of the board as the state government issues directions to the board and such directions are binding on it.

Both the trial court and the state high court had earlier dismissed Madan's petitions finding his contention as misconceived and the apex court in its judgement, pronounced on April 10, noted, ''we find no merit in this appeal which is accordingly dismissed.''

UNI