Corruption has become a way of life, unsatiated greed facilitates its growth: SC

The Supreme Court has said that corruption is a malaise, the presence of which is all pervading in every walk of life and it is not now limited to the spheres of activities of governance and regrettably, responsible citizens say it has become a way of one's life.

A bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta said: "Unsatiated greed for wealth has facilitated corruption to develop like cancer. If the corrupt succeed in duping the law enforcers, their success erodes even the fear of getting caught. They tend to bask under a hubris that rules and regulations are for humble mortals and not them."

The bench added, "though it is the preambular promise of the Constitution to secure social justice to the people of India by striving to achieve equal distribution of wealth, it is yet a distant dream. If not the main, one of the more prominent hurdles for achieving progress in this field is undoubtedly 'corruption'".

"Corruption is a malaise, the presence of which is all pervading in every walk of life. It is not now limited to the spheres of activities of governance; regrettably, responsible citizens say it has become a way of one's life."

The top court made these observations while setting aside an order of the Chhattisgarh High Court, which quashed the FIR registered against the state's former Principal Secretary Aman Singh and his wife for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets. The court had observed that allegations were prima facie based upon probabilities.

Justice Datta, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench, said it is a matter of disgrace for the entire community that there is a steady decline in pursuing the lofty ideals which the founding fathers of our Constitution had in mind and degradation of moral values in society is rapidly on the rise.

"Not much debate is required to trace the root of corruption. 'Greed', regarded in Hinduism as one of the seven sins, has been overpowering in its impact," it added.

The top court said although an appropriate legislation is in place to prevent the cancer of corruption from growing and developing, where maximum punishment by way of imprisonment for ten years is stipulated, curbing it in adequate measure, much less eradicating it, is not only elusive but unthinkable in present times.

"Constitutional Courts owe a duty to the people of the nation to show zero tolerance to corruption and come down heavily against the perpetrators of the crime while at the same time, saving those innocent public servants, who unfortunately get entangled by men of dubious conduct acting from behind the screen with ulterior motives and/or to achieve vested interests," added the bench.

The case was registered in February 2020 against the Singhs under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint lodged by Uchit Sharma, who claims to be an RTI activist and is based in Raipur.