HC decries scrapped section of ACC law

The provision in the Anti-Corruption Commission law that required the ACC to take government permission before suing public servants for corruption was discriminatory and an obstruction to identifying the corrupt, the High Court has observed.

"It is apparent that Section 32Ka of the Amended [Anti Corruption Commission] Act, 2013, which restraints investigations without sanction is discriminatory, and obstruct to track down the corrupt persons," it observed in the full judgment in a writ petition against the amendment.

The Daily Star has obtained a copy of the 20-page judgment released yesterday.

The government in November 2013 introduced the provision by amending the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004 despite objections from a parliamentary body.

Following a writ, an HC bench on January 30 last year had scrapped Section 32Ka, declaring it "without lawful authority and of no legal effect".

"We have to say that status or position cannot shield privileged persons as provided in the impugned section, and safeguard them from unconstrained probe by the ACC in cases of corruption," the HC bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice ABM Altaf Hossain said in the full judgment.

"The protection in Section 32Ka has susceptibility of shielding the corrupt."

Insertion of the section interfered with the commission's independent function and frustrated the objectives of the ACC act, they observed.

"We hold that the provision suffers from the vice of classifying offender differently for treatment thereunder for inquiry and investigation of offences, according to their status and/or rank in life.

"The corrupt persons, whether privileged or general people, are birds of the same feather and must be confronted with the process of investigation and inquiry equally," the judgment read.

It also made observations on the amendment's not having any directive on suing ministers and the head of the government.

"If a minister and/or head of the government may involve in a corruption case along with a government employee, what will be the consequence for filing and/or initiating corruption case for alleged offences," it said.

Petitioner's counsel Manzill Murshid told The Daily Star that following the verdict, the ACC now wouldn't need government permission to sue any public servant.