One Direction, Every Future Trial: The Supreme Court Undoes It
While dismissing a petition, a High Court told every Special Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act to examine the sanctioning authority before framing charge, whether or not sanction was challenged.
A High Court exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 cannot re-write the Code of Criminal Procedure and direct all Sessions Courts and Special Courts under the Prevention of Corruption Act to examine the sanctioning authority before framing charge or before the trial begins. Section 311 sits in Chapter XXIV among general provisions as to inquiries and trials, and cannot be read into a step in the conduct of a trial so as to clothe a criminal court with jurisdiction to bypass the prescribed procedure and evolve a new methodology.
- Article 226 is not a rule-making power. A direction binding every future trial is legislation by another name.
- Section 311 is not a stage. It is a general provision, not a step to be inserted before charge.
- Directions in perpetuity were the mischief. The difficulty identified was the effect on all criminal trials, not on this case.
- The underlying dispute had gone. The first respondent was acquitted, which made the sanction question infructuous — and left only the directions standing.
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Bench
- Justice Atul S. Chandurkar, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra
- Citation
- 2026 INSC 650
- Reported
- [2026] 7 S.C.R. 297
- Case
- CRIMINAL APPEAL/2191/2025
- Decided
- 9 June 2026
- Outcome
- Appeal allowed; directions set aside
What happened
A writ petition sought to quash the sanction for prosecution granted by the competent authority under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the first respondent.
The High Court dismissed the petition, but went on to issue directions: that a trial court trying a case under the Act should examine the sanctioning authority using its powers under Section 311 CrPC before framing charge, even where the accused has not challenged the sanction.
By the time the matter reached the Supreme Court the first respondent had been acquitted of the offences under Sections 7, 13(1)(d) and 13(2), so the sanction question itself had become infructuous.
Why the directions could not stand
The Court held that a High Court under Article 226 cannot re-write the Code and direct all Sessions Courts and Special Courts to examine the sanctioning authority even before charge is framed or trial commences.
Section 311 sits in Chapter XXIV, among general provisions as to inquiries and trials. It cannot be read into a step in the conduct of a trial in a way that gives a criminal court jurisdiction to bypass the procedure the Code prescribes and evolve a new procedure and methodology of its own.
The concern was the reach of the direction. Left standing, it would have created difficulties in perpetuity affecting every criminal trial under the Act.
Who argued it
Appearances as recorded in the judgment of the Court.
Frequently asked
Can a High Court direct all trial courts to follow a new procedure?
No. The Supreme Court held that a High Court under Article 226 cannot re-write the CrPC or evolve a new procedure binding trials generally.
Must the sanctioning authority be examined before charge in a PC Act case?
Not as a rule. The direction requiring it was set aside; Section 311 is a general provision and not a step to be inserted before charge.
What happened to the sanction challenge?
It became infructuous, because the first respondent was acquitted of the offences under Sections 7, 13(1)(d) and 13(2).
Meeting a general direction issued alongside a dismissal
- Separate the order from the directions. A petition can be dismissed and the directions still be bad.
- Ask what the direction does to cases that were never before the court. Perpetual effect on unrelated trials is the vice.
- Locate the provision the direction rests on in the scheme of the Code. A general provision is not a stage in a trial.
- Where the underlying dispute has become infructuous, say so — it isolates the directions as the only live question.
Source. Supreme Court of India, 2026 INSC 650, [2026] 7 S.C.R. 297, CRIMINAL APPEAL/2191/2025, decided 9 June 2026 by Justice Atul S. Chandurkar, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra. This explainer is written from the judgment text as reported.
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