The Executive Committee of the Central Board of the State Bank of India is the authority to dismiss officers, and the Local Board does not have the authority to accord sanctions or to dismiss officers.

JUDGEMENT

1. The respondent in the Government Appeal and the appellant in the Criminal Appeal is the same person. For the sake of convenience he is referred to as 'accused'. The accused was the Agent, State Bank of India, Athgarh. He was charged under S.5(1)(d) read with S.5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and under S.120-B I.P.C. on the allegation that he agreed with one person to cheat the State Bank of India and ultimately cheated the Bank and allowed undue pecuniary benefit to one Ramesh Chandra Rai Samant. It is not necessary to state the facts in detail. The accused was acquitted of the charge under S.5(1)(d) read with S.5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and he was convicted for offence under Ss.477-A and 120-B of the I.P.C. with sentence to undergo R. I. for two years on each count. The Government Appeal is directed against the order of acquittal of the offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Criminal Appeal is directed against the conviction of the accused under the Penal Code.

2. Mr. Mohanty, the learned counsel for the accused, contends that there was no valid sanction for the prosecution of the accused and in absence of valid sanction, the entire prosecution is illegal and the court has no jurisdiction to try the case. He further submits that if the prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act fails he cannot be convicted of other offence, inasmuch as the case was tried by a Special Judge.

3. The trial court has held that the accused was not a public servant and there was no valid sanction. It is not disputed in this court that the accused was a public servant. According to S.21 of I.P.C. 'Public servant' denotes a person falling under any of the descriptions mentioned thereunder. In the category "Twelfth", it is provided that every person in the service or pay of a local authority, a corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act or a Government Company as defined in S.617 of the Companies Act, 1956. Undisputedly the State Bank of India was established by the State Bank of India Act, 1955 and by virtue of the aforesaid provisions of the Penal Code the accused is a public servant.

4. It is contended that there has been no sanction for prosecution under prevention of Corruption Act. According to S.6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, sanction is mandatory for prosecution for offence under S.5(2) of the Act. In this case Ext. 40 is the sanction order which has been proved by P.W. 14. P.W. 14 has admitted that the accused is a Grade II Officer. From Ext. 40, it appears that the sanction has been given by the Local Board of the State Bank of India by virtue of S.50 of the State Bank of India Act with previous sanction of the Central Government. This is known as the State Bank of India General Regulations 1935. Chap. VI of the Regulations relates to Central Board and its Executive Committee and Chap. VII relates to Local Boards and their committees. Regn, 55 of the Regns. comes under Chap. VI of the Regulations, Regn. 55 provides :

"(1) Save as provided in Sub-Section (2), and as may be directed by the Central Board, a Local Board may exercise all the powers of the State Bank in respect of the staff serving in the areas in its jurisdiction.

(2) (a) The initial appointment of officers of all categories shall be made by the Executive Committee. Such officers shall not be dismissed from the service of the State Bank except by the Executive Committee.

x x x x"

Under Chap. VI, Regn. 46 provides the constitution of the Executive Committee and its powers. This Regn. 46 relates to Central Board only. It would thus appear that there is an executive committee of the Central Board. There is no provision in Chap. VII which relates to Local Boards and their committees. There is no provision for any executive committees. The ultimate result is that the executive committee of the Central Board is entitled to appoint and dismiss officers of all categories of the State Bank of