NSE Co-Location Case: SC Says Trial Court To Decide If Chitra Ramkrishna Was A ‘Public Servant’
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday disposed of a plea filed by former National Stock Exchange (NSE) Managing Director and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna challenging a Delhi High Court judgment, observing that the issue of whether she could be treated as a “public servant” under the Prevention of Corruption Act can be raised before the trial court.
A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, while disposing of Ramkrishna’s special leave petition (SLP), said it found no error, “not to speak of any error of law”, in the Delhi High Court judgment.
In its order, the top court recorded that Ramkrishna had argued that the NSE is a private, non-government company engaged in trading, clearing and settlement of securities and, therefore, she could not be said to have been discharging any public duty or be treated as a public servant under Section 2(c) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
“We are of the view that this point can be raised in the course of the trial before the trial court by leading appropriate evidence in that regard,” the Justice Pardiwala-led Bench said.
The Supreme Court further directed the trial court to decide the issue on its own merits and without being influenced by any observations made by the Delhi High Court.
Ramkrishna had approached the Delhi High Court seeking, among other reliefs, quashing of the proceedings against her and challenging the applicability of Sections 2(b) and 2(c)(viii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act to private persons employed by a private company.
She had also challenged the sanction orders issued by the NSE and the trial court’s order taking cognisance of the case.
The High Court, in its judgment passed on July 9, had dismissed her petition, holding that whether Ramkrishna was performing a public duty while handling the internal management of the NSE and how far she was in charge of its day-to-day functioning and policy decisions were matters of evidence that could not be determined at that stage.
A Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja had also made it clear that its observations would not influence the trial court while deciding the issues on the basis of evidence and in accordance with law.
The case relates to allegations concerning misuse of the NSE’s co-location facility during Ramkrishna’s tenure. The CBI had alleged that certain NSE officials provided preferential access to brokers, including access to information regarding server switch-on times and technologically advanced, less crowded servers.
Ramkrishna, who had served as Joint Managing Director of NSE from 2009 to March 2013 and subsequently as its CEO and Managing Director, resigned on December 2, 2016 following complaints concerning the alleged misuse of the co-location facilities. The CBI subsequently filed a charge sheet alleging that she was a “public servant” and had entered into a criminal conspiracy, granted preferential access to certain brokers and abused her position in relation to the appointment and remuneration of Anand Subramanian, then Group Operating Officer and Advisor to the MD.
The NSE Board had granted sanction for her prosecution but clarified that this did not amount to an acceptance that its personnel were public servants or that the NSE was covered by the Prevention of Corruption Act.
(IANS)
