The judgment established that demand and acceptance of illegal gratification constitutes an offence under Section 7 and under Section 13(1)(d) of the Act, and the offender cannot be liable for double penalty.

This appeal has been preferred against the Judgment in C.C.No.1 of 2000 on the file of the learned Special Judge(Chief Judicial Magistrate) Nagapattinam.

2. The short facts of the prosecution case is that on 30.8.1999 at about 7.45 p.m., the accused had demanded and received Rs.1,500/-by way of bribe for issuing the land valuation certificate in favour of one Ummal Fazria and that he had committed an offence under Section 7 and 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act").

3. After taking cognizance of the offence, the learned trial Judge has issued summons to the accused and on his appearance ,copies under Section 207 of Cr.P.C. were furnished to the accused and charges were explained to the accused and when questioned,the accused pleaded not guilty.

4. On the side of the Prosecution P.W.s 1 to 12 were examined. Exs.P1 to P15 were exhibited and M.Os. 1 to 4 were marked.

4a. P.W.1 is the Revenue Divisional Officer, Thiruvarur under whom the accused, the Village Administrative Officer, was working. The material records connected with this case were sent to P.W1, and after perusing the same and after applying his mind to the charges levelled against the accused, had issued the order of sanction for prosecution against the accused under Ex P1.

4b. P.W.2 is the complainant cum decoy witness. According to him, P.W.2 is related to one Ummal Fazria who had applied for an crop loan of Rs.35,000/- in the Indian Bank, Parakathapath Branch and when she went along with P.W.4 , the son of Ummal Fazria to the Indian Bank for the sanction of the loan, the Manager of the said Bank directed them to produce the necessary certificates including the land Valuation certificate and accordingly he along with P.W.4 went and met the accused and before that they have presented the application before the Tahsildar, Valangiman, requesting him to issue land valuation certificate who in turn had affixed his seal and signature and directed them to hand over the same to the Village Administrative Officer,Subbiah, the accused herein, who had demanded Rs.1000/- as bribe per Rs 1,00,000/-to the value of Ummal Fazrias land (who is owning 14 acres of land). Immediately, they returned to their home and four or five days later again they met the accused and requested him to reduce the demand of bribe. Thereafter, the accused had settled for Rs.1500/- since P.W.4 is not willing to give bribe to the accused,he returned by saying that on the following Monday, he will pay the amount demanded by the accused. Since P.W.4 is not willing to give any bribe amount, he(P.W.4) along with P.W.2 went to the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Office, at Nagapattinam and informed them about the demand made by the accused for furnishing the land valuation certificate to the mother of P.W.4. Ex P2 is the complaint preferred by him. Ex P4 is the copy of the first information report. He had also brought with him fourteen 100 rupees notes and two 50 rupees notes which were later made as decoy amount. The Inspector had sent for two Government Servants viz., Ramalingam and Bhaskar and introduced them to him and also introduced him to them and allowed them to read Ex P2 complaint. He has also prepared Sodium Carbonate solution and also explained about the importance of the sodium carbonate test. The Inspector has also sprinkled phenolpthalein powder on the currency notes brought by him(P.W.2). After explaining about the importance of the test and after demonstrating the test, the Inspector of Police asked him (P.W.2) to keep the currency notes,with denomination of fourteen 100 rupees notes and two 50 rupees notes which has been sprinkled with phenolpthalein powder with him and further instructed to hand over the decoy amount to the accused only on demand and after the receipt of the bribe amount by the accused to signal the police officials by tying his kerchief on his head, as per directions of the Inspector of Police, he along