Botched up investigations of a scam is a bigger scam: Supreme Court

Corruption has become a way of life and it is an utter matter of disgrace the Supreme Court has observed.

The Supreme Court of India observed that corruption was one of the main reasons as to why the 'preambular promise of the Constitution to achieve the equal distribution of wealth remains a distant dream.

A Bench comprising, Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta observed, " it is the preambular promise of the Constitution to secure social justice to the people of India by striving to achieve equal distribution of wealth, it is yet a distant dream. If not the main, one of the more prominent hurdles for achieving progress in this field is undoubtedly 'corruption'. Corruption is a malaise, the presence of which is all pervading in every walk of life."

The court was hearing a challenge to an order of the Chhattisgarh High Court which quashed a disproportionate assets case registered against Aman Singh, former principal secretary of the former chief minister, Raman Singh and his wife Yasmin Singh. He was a consultant when Raman Singh was in power.

The court while stating that it was a matter of utter disgrace for the community also said that it is present in all spheres of governance and even common citizens say corruption has become a way of life.

"Indeed, it is a matter of disgrace for the entire community that not only on the one hand is there a steady decline in steadfastly pursuing the lofty ideals which the founding fathers of our Constitution had in mind, degradation of moral values in society is rapidly on the rise on the other," the Bench noted.

The root cause of corruption is nothing but greed said the judgment authored by Justice Datta.

"'Greed', regarded in Hinduism as one of the seven sins, has been overpowering in its impact. In fact, unsatiated greed for wealth has facilitated corruption to develop like cancer. If the corrupt succeed in duping the law enforcers, their success erodes even the fear of getting caught. They tend to bask under a hubris that rules and regulations are for humbler mortals and not them. To get caught, for them, is a sin," the Supreme Court said.

The Bench also took exception to how investigations in the so-called scams are conducted.

"Little wonder, outbreak of scams is commonly noticed. What is more distressing is the investigations/inquiries that follow. More often than not, these are botched and assume the proportion of bigger scams than the scams themselves. However, should this state of affairs be allowed to continue,?" the Bench added.

The mandate of the Prevention of Corruption Act is to track down corrupt public servants and punish them appropriately. This is because there is a higher expectation from the people who are holding positions of power, the court said. Some public servants however place their private interest above their public duty, the Bench said.

""We the people", with the adoption of our Constitution, had expected very high standards from people occupying positions of trust and responsibility in line with the Constitutional ethos and values. Regrettably, that has not been possible because, inter alia, a small section of individuals inducted in public service for 'serving the public' appear to have kept private interest above anything else and, in the process, amassed wealth not proportionate to their known sources of income at the cost of the nation," the Bench said.

There is no magic wand to wipe out greed. It is the duty. It is the duty of the Constitutional courts-Supreme Court and High Courts to show zero tolerance to corruption and pull up the offending officers, the court also said.

"Although an appropriate legislation is in place to prevent the cancer of corruption from growing and developing, wherefor maximum punishment by way of imprisonment for ten years is stipulated, curbing it in adequate measure, much less eradicating it, is not only elusive but unthinkable in present times. Since there exists no magic wand as in fairy tales, a swish of which could wipe out greed, the Constitutional Courts owe a duty to the people of the nation to show zero tolerance to corruption and come down heavily against the perpetrators of the crime while at the same time saving those innocent public servants, who unfortunately get entangled by men of dubious conduct acting from behind the screen with ulterior motives and/or to achieve vested interests. The task, no doubt, is onerous but every effort ought to be made to achieve it by sifting the grain from the chaff," the Supreme Court said.

Dealing with the specifics of the case, the Supreme Court set aside the judgment of the High Court and observed that it is desirable if the High Courts do not quash corruption case FIRs, at the investigation stage, even if it is suspected that the case has been registered by a new government against officers of the previous government.