Public Servant Held in Judicial Custody Over 48 Hours Is Deemed Suspended, No Separate Order Needed: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has said that a public servant who is arrested and kept in judicial custody for more than 48 hours is under deemed suspension, and that the government does not need to pass a specific order for this to take effect.

A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manmohan made the observation in an order dated 6 November while hearing an appeal by Vishwajeet Singh, the manager-administrator of Sadar Hospital in Samastipur, Bihar. He was booked under Section 7(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, on the allegation that he asked for a ₹4,000 bribe to clear a complainant’s wages of ₹36,421.

A sessions court had granted him bail. Almost a year later, on the complainant’s plea, the Patna High Court cancelled that bail and ordered him back into custody. The Supreme Court set aside the High Court order and restored the sessions court’s bail.

The bench noted that in cases of this kind, bail is ordinarily granted given the maximum sentence involved, and may be refused only where there are criminal antecedents or the facts are very serious. It accepted that the size of the bribe is not a relevant ground for bail, but said the High Court could have made that point without taking away his liberty.

The court also pointed to what it called a disturbing feature. The accused had spent nearly 15 days in judicial custody after his arrest, which meant he stood suspended. The state told the court he had been suspended but the order was later revoked, and he was then posted back to the same hospital on the same post. The bench asked the state to look into this at the earliest.

— Legal Desk

Featured image: Supreme Court of India front view 03.jpg by Pinakpani, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

• LiveLaw — Public servant in custody over 48 hours is deemed suspended: Supreme Court