Terming corruption as a “gigantic problem”, a special court has sentenced a senior examiner who worked at the Trademark Registry office in Antop Hill under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act to four years of rigorous imprisonment for demanding and accepting Rs. 5,000 as bribe from a private company employee in exchange for getting the company’s work done.
The court refused to take a lenient view and stated in its judgment, “Corruption by public servants has become a gigantic problem. It has spread everywhere. No facet of public activity has been left unaffected by the stink of corruption.” Special Judge AS Sayyad further stated that it has deep and pervasive impact on the functioning of the entire country and that large scale corruption retards nation building activities and everyone has to suffer on that count.
What is the case all about?
The complainant was working in 2018 as a supervisor in a pharmaceutical company M/s. Annova Pharma Pvt. Ltd. The company had filed an application with the Registrar of Trademarks for the brandname “Allonova”. The office had recorded an objection to granting the trademark as there was a similar trademark already in its registry. The company had been asked to submit its response. During a hearing in this connection, senior examiner Nagendra Yadav had met the complainant and told him that the objection could be waived and the matter resolved, if he paid Rs. 5,000 to him. Accordingly, he asked the complainant to return with the bribe amount at 4 pm that day. The company did not want to pay the bribe and hence the employee approached the Central Bureau of Investigation with his complaint.
The following day, a trap was arranged and Yadav was caught accepting the bribe amount red-handed. Special Judge AS Sayyad said in the judgment that the accused abused his position as a public servant by corrupt means and obtained pecuniary advantage and thereby committed criminal misconduct.
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