Only Prime Minister’s Office can grant sanction to prosecute IAS officers, Centre tells Madras High Court

The Central government on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) informed the Madras High Court that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was the competent authority to grant the statutory sanction required to prosecute Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in criminal cases.

Appearing before Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, Sushil Kumar Patel, Joint Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), said that the files are sent first to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for its remarks and then forwarded to the PMO, seeking sanction.

The submission was made in response to a query raised by the court to explain who the competent authority was to sanction prosecution against IAS officers and why it takes a very long time to obtain such sanction before prosecuting bureaucrats in corruption cases.

What is the case about?

Justice Venkatesh had raised the question during the hearing of a case related to the delay in obtaining sanction to prosecute IAS officers K.S. Kandasamy and K. Vijaya Karthikeyan in a ₹98.25-crore corporation tender irregularities case registered primarily against former AIADMK Minister S.P. Velumani.

Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-corruption organisation represented by its managing trustee Jayaram Venkatesan, had filed the case. Its counsel, V. Suresh, told the court that the alleged irregularities in the award of Greater Chennai and Coimbatore municipal corporation contracts had occurred between 2014 and 2018.

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had registered a First Information Report in this regard in 2021 and completed the probe a few years later. On February 12, 2024, then Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker M. Appavu had granted sanction to prosecute Mr. Velumani.

However, as there was a delay in obtaining sanction to prosecute the two IAS officers, Arappor Iyakkam had moved the High Court with the present petition last year. Following a nudging by the High Court, the Tamil Nadu government forwarded the proposal for grant of sanction to the DoPT.

Explaining the reason for the sanction not having been granted so far, Mr. Patel said that the DoPT had received voluminous documents running to thousands of pages from the State government, and they had to be carefully perused before sending them to the CVC for its remarks.

After receiving the remarks from the CVC, the file would be forwarded to the PMO for obtaining sanction, the officer said. He assured the court that DoPT was according top priority to the issue at hand and that the entire process would be completed within the next two months.

Justice Venkatesh recorded his submissions and adjourned the case filed by Arappor Iyakkam to November 12, 2026. He directed the Joint Secretary to file an affidavit, during the next hearing, explaining the entire process of sanction, from November 2025, until a decision is taken by the PMO.