The demand for school fees, approved by the management, did not constitute illegal gratification under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A.M. DHAVALE, J.

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

2. The petitioner, who is Headmaster of 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, 1973 seeks quashing of First Information Report bearing Crime No. I63/ 2016 dt. 04.03.2016 registered against him at Shevgaon Police Station, Dist. Ahmednagar, for offences under Sections 7 & 15 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

3. The facts relevant may be stated as follows:

The petitioner, who belongs to Scheduled Tribe category, was appointed as Assistant Teacher by respondent No. 5 on 16.08.2002. He was promoted as Headmaster on 01.06.2010 and was transferred to Shriram Vidyalaya at Dhor-Jalgaon, Tq. Shevgaon, Dist. Ahmednagar, on 31.05.2015. Respondent No. 4 - Ganesh Ramnath Pagar was already serving there as Assistant Teacher. Respondent No. 3 - Sau. Sunanda is a wife of respondent No. 4 Ganesh. Respondent No. 4 had a bad office record. His previous three ACRs' (Annual Confidential Reports) written by predecessor of the petitioner herein were adverse. Respondent No. 4 was repeatedly going on leave. He being a class teacher, was in possession of forms of Board examination of SSC & HSC 'B' division. Those were to be forwarded to the Board in time but he remained absent and, therefore, the petitioner was constrained to serve him with a notice. Respondent No. 4 refused to accept notice dt.07.11.2015. On 12.09.2014, the earlier Headmaster had lodged N.C. case against respondent No. 4 with Shevgaon Police Station for using filthy language and abusive threatening language and also demanding of Rs. 50,000/- by a phone from unknown person on suspicion. On 07.11.2015, respondent No. 4 had used abusive, insulting and threatening language to the petitioner and abused him in the name of his caste and, hence, the petitioner was constrained to file FIR bearing Crime No. II63/ 2015 dt. 09.11.2015 at Shevgaon Police Station, Dist. Ahmednagar, for offence under section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act & respondent No. 4 was required to obtain anticipatory bail from the Sessions Court at Ahemdnagar. Respondent No. 4's repeated absence on medical ground was also a cause for dispute between the petitioner and respondent No. 4. The management rejected his medical leave application for a period from 06.01.2016 to 15.01.2016. Respondent No. 4 was not permitted to join his duties on 11.04.2016, but according to the petitioner he merely sent the applications and had not been to the school and was creating a false record. He accordingly sent a letter to respondent No. 4 on 31.05.2016. As per impugned FIR lodged by respondent No.2 Dy. Superintendent of Police, Anti Corruption Bureau dt. 04.03.2016, respondent No. 4's wife Sau. Sunanda had reported to him over phone that the petitioner was demanding bribe of Rs. 1250/- under the pretext of school fees of her sister-in-law namely; Arti Satpute, who was studying in 12th Arts in the same college. The petitioner had refused to issue receipt for the said amount. Respondent No. 2 sent respondent No. 3-Sau. Sunanda and one panch to the petitioner for verification of information. They had carried tape-recorder with them. The petitioner made a demand of Rs. 1250/- from respondent No. 3. Respondent No. 3 told him that she was not having money and she would pay money on the next day i.e. on 09.02.2016. On 16.02.2016, again respondent No. 3 and one panch went to the petitioner along with voice recorder and notes of Rs. 1250/- smeared with anthracene powder, but, the petitioner refused to accept the bribe and stated that fees of the girl was already deposited by respondent No. 4. Respondent No. 2 deemed it fit to lodge FIR for demand of illegal gratification.

4. The petitioner obtained ant