In Mr. S. Kumar @ Shailesh Kumar vs. The State of Bihar & Anr.(2026), Justice Sandeep Kumar delivered a 29-page long judgement dated January 21, 2026 wherein, he quashed the order granting sanction for prosecution by Secretary, Department of Law, Government of Bihar. The judgement recorded that despite valid service of notice, none appeared on behalf of Milan Kumar Sudhaka, the opposite party no.2. Justice Kumar concluded:"33. In view of the aforesaid discussions, the impugned F.I.R vide Kadamkuan P.S. Case No.238 of 2024 and all consequential proceedings arising therefrom including the impugned sanction order dated 28.12.2020 are hereby quashed qua the present petitioner. 34. Accordingly, the present quashing petition is allowed. "
The application was filed invoking the inherent jurisdiction of this Court under section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code for quashing the order contained in memo dated December 28, 2020, passed by the Secretary, Department of Law, Government of Bihar whereby sanction for prosecution under section 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code was granted against the petitioner in connection with a Kadamkuan P.S. Case of 2014 registered on May 24, 2014. Subsequently, during the pendency of the petition, the petitioner moved an Interlocutory Application in 2024 seeking amendment in the prayer portion of the petition and assailed the F.I.R vide Kadamkuan P.S. Case of 2014 and also the charge-sheet of 2021 filed against the petitioner.
The Complaint Case of 2014 was filed on April 4, 2014 in the Court of C.J.M., Patna by the complainant namely, Milan Kumar Sudhakar in the capacity of power of attorney holder of his grandmother, Dr. Gyan Kaur Yadav, against two accused persons namely S. Kumar, the petitioner and one Sitaram Chaudhary. In the complaint petition, the complainant stated that power of attorney (POA) was executed in the year 2011 and 2013 by the principal one Dr. Gyan Kaur Yadav in his favour to look after her property including her family home, i.e., a three storeyed building situated at B/17, Road No. 12, Rajendra Nagar, Patna since the principal along with her family was living in the United Kingdom. It was stated that the principal had acquired the property at Rajendra Nagar, Patna from her husband, namely Dr. Desh Gaurav Yadav, who had passed away in the year 2008, through a registered deed in her favour, which was executed in presence of the witness namely one Kumar Indradev in the year 1985. Subsequently thep roperty was duly mutated in the name of the principal-Dr. Gyan Kaur Yadav. The husband of the principal much prior to his death in the year 1999, had executed a POA in favour of the Kumar Indradev to look after the property situated at Rajendra Nagar. It was also stated that the principal Dr. Gyan Kaur Yadav and her husband had two sons namely Gurvindar and Surender and one daughter Manjit Kaur.
Later, it was alleged that on the strength of the POA when the complainant went to deposit the holding tax with the Patna Municipal Corporation, it came to his knowledge that the property at Rajendra Nagar was mutated in the name of one Kumar Gyanendra who was said to be the son of late Dr. Desh Gaurav Yadav, whereas he was actually the son of the aforesaid Kumar Indradeo, who was previously given POA by the husband of the principal, i.e., late Dr. Desh Gaurav Yadav in his lifetime. Upon learning of this illegal mutation, the complainant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 before the Bankipur Circle Office and received a response that the name of Kumar Gyanendra was mutated vide Mutation No. 288/19A/2004-05 in Circle No. 29, Holding No. 687 in the year 2005 itself. It was alleged that the illegal mutation in favour of Kumar Gyanendra was effected asserting falsely that he was the son of Dr. Desh Gaurav Yadav however, he was the son of the Kumar Indradev. The complainant accordingly informed the principal Dr. Gyan Kaur Yadav and thereafter upon instructions of the aforesaid principal, the complainant filed a complaint case No. 1118 of 2012 against Kumar Indradeo and his son Kumar Gyanendra, wherein cognizance was taken under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120B of the IPC against the two persons and the complainant also filed an Appeal against the illegal mutation, before the Commissioner, Patna Municipal Corporation, which was numbered as Appeal No. 17 of 2012.
The Additional Commissioner, Patna Municipal Corporation had remanded the matter back to the Executive Officer for fresh consideration holding that the house owner was neither informed nor the succession was minutely examined. The Additional Commissioner also duly noted that the house owner (principal) Dr. Gyan Kaur Yadav was shown to have passed away on November 7, 2004 whereas a VISA was issued to her on December 27, 2007.
The complainant thereafter alleged that the petitioner-the Executive Officer in connivance with other accused persons got a report dated February 16, 2013 from the Revenue Officer wherein the Kumar Gyanendra was falsely and incorrectly shown to be the son of the husband of the principal Dr. Desh Gaurav Yadav and they had deliberately ignored the documents adduced by the complainant such as, family certificate issued at Darbhanga proving that Kumar Gyanendra was not the son of the husband of the principal, i.e., late Dr. Desh Gaurav Yadav. It was alleged in the complaint that subsequently, the petitioner in connivance with other accused persons passed a cryptic order wherein the further proceedings were stayed till the disposal of the Title Suit No. 507 of 2011 to unduly favour Kumar Gyanandra and his faher Kumar Indradeo. It was also alleged that the accused persons in collusion with Kumar Gyanandra and his father Kumar Indradeo also issued holding tax receipts bearing the name of Kumar Gyanandra wherein his parentage was shown incorrectly as Dr. Desh Gaurav Yadav instead of his actual father Kumar Indradeo.
The C.J.M, Patna vide order dated April 5, 2014 had forwarded the complaint case under section 156(3) Cr.P.C for investigation to the Kadamkuan Police Station and thereafter the present F.I.R in Kadamkuan P.S. Case of 2014 was registered on May 24, 2014 against two accused persons including the petitioner.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was serving as the Executive Officer at the Circle Office, Bankipur, Patna Municipal Corporation and under such authority and in discharge of his duties, he passed the order of stay. He submitted that the petitioner being the Executive Officer had passed the stay order dated June 27, 2013 observing that with regard to the same property situated at Rajendra Nagar a Title Suit of 2011 was also pending and the house, in question, being in possession of Kumar Gyanendra, the revenue court had no jurisdiction to decide the title and therefore, had kept the proceeding of the case pending till the final disposal of the aforesaid Title Suit. He submitted that the core allegation as against the petitioner was that he had passed the aforesaid order dated June 27, 2013 which was cryptic in nature staying the proceedings before him till the disposal of the Title Suit in collusion with the opponents of the complainant for extraneous considerations, however he had emphasised that the order of stay was passed by the petitioner in exercise of his quasi judicial authority and the same can be assailed/appealed before the superior authority in accordance with law, which in fact was done and an appeal had been preferred before the Additional Commissioner, Patna Municipal Corporation.
It was the contention of counsel for the petitioner that merely passing an order for stay, in discharge of his official duties, could not lead to initiation of criminal proceeding on the basis of mere imputations of collusion with the beneficiaries of the mutation which was in fact carried out much prior to the petitioner even joining the post as the Executive Officer in the Circle Officer, Bankipur. The counsel for the petitioner pointed out that upon a bare perusal of the complaint petition, it would clearly manifest that the fraud was actually committed by Kumar Gyanendra and his father Kumar Indradeo with respect to the property of the principal situated at Rajendra Nagar and the present petitioner was in no way involved in any alleged fraud whatsoever. It was also emphasised that the mutation of the property situated at Rajendra Nagar was effected in the year 2005 itself and the consequent holding tax receipts were issued in the same year in favour of Kumar Gyanendra by the then Executive Officer one R.P Gupta and pertinently the petitioner was not posted in the aforesaid office at the relevant time when the mutation was carried.
It was submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that the impugned sanction order was passed without considering the legal opinion sought by the sanctioning authority. Since the impugned order for sanction was passed de hors the legal opinion wherein unequivocal stand had been taken that the actions of the petitioner cannot be characterized as malafide and that the petitioner never acted beyond his jurisdiction while passing the order of stay, it was therefore submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that no grounds for granting sanction against the petitioner exists in light of the section 197 Cr.P.C. which protects the public servants from vexatious prosecutions and consequently the impugned order of sanction for prosecution is bad in law and cannot be sustained.
In support of his submissions the counsel drew strength from the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of D. Devaraja vs. Owais Sabeer Hussain, (2020) 7 SCC 695, B. Saha vs. M.S. Kochar, (1979) 4 SCC 177 and Gurmeet Kaur vs. Devender Gupta, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 3761.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the impugned order of sanction was passed in complete violation of the provisions contained in section 2 and 3 of the Judges (Protection) Act, 1985. Adverting to its provisions, he submitted that the petitioner acting as a quasi judicial authority was shielded and no civil or criminal proceeding against the petitioner could have been initiated since the actions of the petitioner was clearly within the ambit of bona fide discharge of his official duties. The counsel for the petitioner had also drawn attention of the High Court to section 77 of the Indian Penal Code to argue that the impugned sanction is in the teeth of the aforesaid section 77 of the IPC. He pointed that the complainant on the strength of the POA in his favour had earlier instituted a separate complaint case bearing complaint case no. 1118 of 2012 against Kumar Gyanendra and his father Kumar Indradeo, wherein the Trial Court had already taken cognizance. In the earlier complaint case the petitioner was not arrayed as an accused. It was only subsequently that the complainant had instituted this complaint case against the petitioner being the Executive Officer and the co-accused being the Revenue Officer in the year 2014. He submitted that the present criminal proceedings was initiated only to settle a personal score among the parties who are fighting over the property at Rajendra Nagar and no prima facie case is made out against the petitioner. Reliance is also placed on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Awdesh Sriwastava vs. State of M.P. reported as 2025 SCC OnLine SC 693.
Justice Kumar observed: "The petitioner while discharging his duty as the Executive Officer in the Circle Office, Bankipur, Patna had passed the order dated 27.06.2013 staying the proceedings of Mutation case till the conclusion of the Title Suit No.507 of 2011 since the same parties were ventilating their dispute in the aforesaid title suit for the very same property. There is no dispute that the aforesaid order dated 27.06.2013 has been passed by the petitioner in discharge of his official duty upon remand from the appellate authority." He referred to the decisions that have examined the question of applicability of the Judges (Protection) Act, 1985 to revenue authorities. In this regard, the High Court of Chhattisgarh in Rajkumar Tamboli vs. State of Chhattisgarh & Anr. reported as 2024 SCC OnLine Chh 3651 delved deeply into the Judges (Protection) Act, 1985 and its applicability to revenue officers.
Justice Kumar observed: "....it is quite vivid from definition of Section 2 of the Act of 1985 that the petitioner was empowered to give definite judgment in revenue proceeding. The petitioner at the relevant point of time was empowered to pass an order of mutation of subject land in the names of purchasers (co-accused) under Sections 178 and 110 of the Code respectively and he would fall within the meaning of person under Section 2(a) of the Act of 1985 who is empowered by law to give definitive judgment in revenue proceeding. 23. The question for consideration would be, whether the petitioners are entitled for protection under Section 3 of the Act of 1985 ?"
In Union of India vs. Upendra Singh (1994) 3 SCC 357, the Supreme Court held that even an officer, while discharging judicial or quasi-judicial duties, is amenable to the disciplinary proceedings into his conduct in discharge of the duty.
Justice Kumar underlined that "it is patently clear that the petitioner would fall within the ambit of protections afforded by the Judges (Protection) Act, 1985. The protection is obviously not absolute and the State or appropriate authority could proceed against an erring officers in terms of section 3(2) of the aforesaid Act. 31. The order of stay passed by the petitioner which forms the basis for initiating the criminal prosecution is appealable before the appellate authority and any error committed by the petitioner therein could have been rectified by the appellate authority. From the records, it appears that an appeal was preferred agianst the order passed by the petitioner. The present petitioner by his order had stayed the mutation proceedings which was before him on remand from the appellate authority since there was a dispute over the title of the subject property. If the parties to the mutation proceedings were aggrieved by the order of stay passed by the petitioner then they could have availed remedies available under the law to assail the aforesaid order of stay. A bald statement that the order of stay passed by the petitioner being in favour of one of the parties to the mutation proceedings would not suffice to initiate a criminal prosecution against the petitioner. The criminal prosecution launched solely for passing an order of stay by the petitioner while discharging his duties, in the mutation proceedings simpliciter would squarely amount to malafide prosecution. 32. Further, in the present case, the sanction order is totally silent as to the circumstances under which the protection afforded to the petitioner from vexatious prosecution are required to be stripped. Moreover, the impugned sanction order also makes no mention of any material which would warrant initiation of criminal proceeding against the petitioner for staying the mutation case proceeding until the conclusion of the Title Suit which existed for the very same subject property. The substance of why a sanction is required to be passed for criminal proceedings was however entirely missed and skipped by the sanctioning authority, more so, when the petitioner was protected under the ambit of Judges (Protection) Act, 1985. Therefore the impugned order of sanction suffers from clear non-application of mind and can not be sustained."
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