1. The three accused who faced trial before the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Thrissur, and convicted of the offences under sections 13 (1) (c) and 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of P.C. Act 1988 and sections 120-B, 409, 468, 471, 477A and Section 204 of IPC are the appellants in these appeals. They were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years each and to pay a fine of Rs.50,000/-each for the offences under sections 13(1)(c) and 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of P.C. Act. Besides they were also sentenced to various terms of imprisonment for other offences for which they were found guilty and convicted.

2. Criminal Appeal No:554/2001 is the appeal filed by accused nos.2 and 3 in the aforesaid case and Criminal Appeal No.555/2001 is the appeal filed by accused no.1 in that case. The first accused was the Secretary and the second accused was the President of Erattayar Grama Panchayath. The third accused was then working as Upper Division clerk in that Panchayath. It was alleged that the aforesaid three accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy in 1995 to misappropriate a sum of Rs.57,500/-. The amounts were allotted to the Panchayath under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) scheme for the works to be carried out under that scheme.

3. It was alleged that the aforesaid three accused persons, in persuance of the criminal conspiracy, prepared false cheques and committed criminal misappropriation in respect of the amounts covered by the three cheques -Exhibits P15, P16 and P17, amounting to a total of Rs.57,500/- and for that purpose they also committed falsification of the accounts and destroyed the cash book and relevant records in order to facilitate obtaining of pecuniary advantage to the tune of the amount covered by the aforesaid three cheques and also forged documents and made use of such forged documents knowing it to be forged for the purpose of obtaining pecuniary advantage. It was alleged that they abused their official position and obtained the pecuniary advantage by corrupt or illegal means. Based on the report of preliminary enquiry the F.I.R. was registered. After conducting investigation final report was filed.

4. PWs 1 to 11 were examined and Exts P1 to P32 were marked. Exts D1 to D3, D3(a) and D3(b) were marked on the side of the defence. Ext P21 is the sanction order issued by PW8 as per which sanction was accorded to prosecute A1 and A3. At the time of taking cognizance A2 was not the President of the Panchayath. The fact that A1 was the Secretary of the Grama Panchayath and A3 was the Upper Division Clerk at the relevant time was not in dispute. Similarly, it was also not disputed that A2 was the President of that Grama Panchayath at the relevant time.

5. Accepting the evidence adduced on the side of the prosecution, the court below found the appellants guilty of the offences as mentioned above and thus they were convicted and sentenced.

6. The learned counsel for the appellants would submit that there is no legal evidence to hold that the petitioners committed criminal breach of trust or misappropriation of any amount. It is also contended that there is no legal evidence to show that the petitioners committed forgery of any receipts, cheques or other documents and as such the conviction and sentence passed against them are unsustainable.

7. The points for consideration are:

(i) Whether the conviction of the accused/appellant is vitiated for want of sanction under section 19 of P.C. Act, 1988 and sanction under section 197 of Cr.P.C. and also sanction under section 248 of Kerala Panchayat Raj Act?

(ii) Whether the accused entered into criminal conspiracy for committing misappropriation of the amount allotted to the Panchayat under the J.R.Y. scheme?

(iii) Whether the accused, by abusing their official position or by corrupt or illegal means obtained pecuniary advantage of Rs.57,500/-either for themselves or for any other person as alleged by the Prosecution?

(iv) Whether the accused dish