The judgment establishes that demand and acceptance of an amount, if in accordance with approved fees by the school management and association, does not constitute illegal gratification under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A.M. Dhavale, J.

1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. Heard finally with the consent of the parties and taken up for final disposal at admission stage.

2. The petitioners, who are Headmaster & Asst. Teacher, respectively, of a primary school run by respondent No. 5 – Institution, by this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, seek quashing of First Information Report bearing Crime No. 3071/2016 dt. 04.08.2016 at Chalisgaon Police Station, Dist. Jalgaon, for offences under Sections 7, 12, 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and further directions for prohibiting respondents No. 1 and 2 from taking any action against them on the basis of the same.

3. The facts relevant may be stated as follows:

The Petitioners no. 1 & 2 joined respondent No. 3 trust as Assistant Teachers on 30.05.1982 and 19.08.1988, respectively. Eventually on 19.02.2012, petitioner no. 1 was promoted as Headmaster in Hirubhai Himabhai Patel Primary School run by respondent No. 3. The impugned FIR dt. 04.08.2016 was lodged by Ms Nita Kayate, Police Inspector, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Jalgaon (hereinafter shall be referred to as "ACB"), after laying trap and petitioner no.2/accused No. 2 Sanjay Pawar was caught red handed while accepting a tainted amount of Rs. 3105/from one Umesh Rama Thombre for admitting his son Veer in the first standard. Earlier Umesh Thombre had reported the ACB that, he had applied on 01.08.2016 for admitting his son Veer in 1st std. At that time, petitioner no. 1 demanded bribe of Rs. 3105/and asked him to deposit the said amount with petitioner no. 2. Umesh Thombre Informant was not willing to pay the said bribe. He was convinced that if he would not pay the said amount, his son would not be admitted in the school. Accordingly, he submitted report to the ACB, Camp at Chalisgaon. Thereafter, following pretrap procedure, respondent No.2 forwarded the informant Umesh Thombre along with panch No. 1 Pandurang Survase to the petitioners for verification of demand. Their conversation was tape-recorded. Respondent No. 2 was convinced that there was demand of Rs. 3105/by petitioner no. 1 and he gave a chit showing the said figure for acceptance of the amount by petitioner no. 2. After following the procedure, Umesh along with panch no. 1 Pandurang Survase visited the school on 04.08.2016 at 10:50 a.m. The team of ACB and one panch were following the accused. On the same day at 11:20 a.m. he gave a signal of acceptance of bribe amount by petitioner no. 2. Thereafter, petitioner no. 2 was caught in 'C' division of 1st std classroom while accepting the amount of bribe. The statements and audio recording shows that he had demanded Rs. 3105/and he received the said amount from Umesh Thombre. He had agreed to issue receipt only for Rs. 900 to 1000/and not for the entire amount stating that he was a servant and was obeying the directions of superiors. Thereafter, impugned FIR came to be lodged and appropriate actions were taken in connection with the investigation.

4. Shri. Dhorde, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners argued that the amount demanded and accepted was not bribe. There was a meeting of Parents' Teachers Association on 31.08.2015 and by unanimous resolution it was agreed that fees of Rs. 1105/for Marathi medium and Rs. 3105/for semi-English medium shall be received. The earlier resolution passed in the Parents Teachers Association dt. 11.08.2014 shows bifurcation of the said amount of Rs. 3105/- as follows:

Admission form fee	Rs.100/
Incident fee	Rs.400/
Computer fee	Rs.400/
Stationery	Rs.100/
Parents Teachers Association	Rs.5/
Sanchayika (File)	Rs.100/
Cultural Development Fee	Rs.2000/
Total	Rs.3105/

      5. The Parents Teachers Association's resolution is signed by the Chairman