In an interesting ruling, the Bombay high court has held that accepting felicitation would not amount to corruption.
Subhash Gavsane, hailing from Madha, Solapur, had filed a petition seeking registration of offence against a few officers of the state cooperative department under Prevention Of Corruption Act.
The petitioner's case was that sometime in 2008 these officers accepted felicitation from a cooperative society when an official inquiry was pending against the society under Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act.
The petitioner approached the local police to register an offence but they refused. So he filed a petition in the high court.
However, division bench of justices DB Bhosale and RV More refuted the petitioner's plea in an order given last week.
High court noted that it was disputed whether felicitation indeed took place. Moreover, the court said, "Even if it is assumed that the officers were felicitated or they accepted the felicitation, that by itself, in our opinion, would not attract the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act".
Besides, the petitioner has not made any allegation of favouritism against these officers, high court noted.
At the most, the officers' conduct could invite a departmental inquiry, the court said, dismissing the petition.
