The Court held: “... the signature tune in Vineet Narain is, ‘However high you may be, the law is above you’ We reiterate the same. The Section shields a class of public servants and revives an impermissible protection which was previously struck down in Vineet Narain and Subramaniam Swamy. Justice Viswanathan, while agreeing with Justice Nagarathna and the petitioners that leaving the power of consent with the government would render the provision unconstitutional, found no fault with the provision of prior sanction per se. “Both address allegations of corruption against public servants, both recognise the need for screening, and both seek to balance accountability with protection against misuse”. At the coreThe core disagreement between the two judges is on how to strike a constitutional balance between protecting honest decision-making public servants and ensuring an efficient anti-corruption regime.

Source: The Hindu January 18, 2026 19:30 UTC