INDIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Priyank Ladoia, Asif Ahmed, Puneet Dhanoa and Utkarsh Routh, AZB & Partners
been directly or indirectly involved in an offence, and as provided under the PCA. If an accused person pleads guilty to an offence dur - ing or before commencement of trial, the courts have discretion to take a lenient view while sentencing them. However, while exercising this discretion, the court cannot award a sentence that is lower than the minimum sentence prescribed for such offence.
organisation can be punished with minimum imprison - ment of three years and up to seven years, along with a fine, as provided in Section 10 of the PCA. For abetting an offence under the PCA, as provided under Section 12, the punishment prescribed is mini - mum imprisonment of three years and up to seven years, along with a fine. For criminal misconduct, whereby a public servant either misappropriates public property or owns assets far exceeding their known source of income, as pro - vided under Section 13 of the PCA, the punishment prescribed is minimum imprisonment of four years and up to ten years, along with a fine. Having been convicted under the PCA and subse - quently being convicted under the PCA again consti - tutes a separate offence, punishable with minimum imprisonment of five years and up to ten years, and with a fine, as provided under Section 14 of the PCA. An attempt to commit an offence under Section 13 (1)(a) of the PCA – ie, the misappropriation of pub - lic property by a public servant – is punishable with minimum imprisonment of two years and up to five years, and with a fine, as provided under Section 15 of the PCA. 5.2 Guidelines Applicable to the Assessment of Penalties Section 16 of the PCA provides for calculation of quantum of a fine for offences under Sections 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 (2), 14 and 15 of the PCA. The court shall consider and be mindful of the value of the property that the accused persons have obtained by commit - ting the offence. For offences under Section 13 (1) of the PCA, the court shall consider the value of the public property proved to have been misappropriated and that the accused was unable to account for. Section 14 of the PCA provides for punishment for habitual offenders, wherein subsequent commission of an offence under the PCA is punishable with impris - onment for a term of not less than five years, which can be extended to ten years.
5. Penalties for Violations 5.1 Penalties on Conviction
For the offence of a public servant obtaining, accept - ing or attempting to obtain any undue advantage with an intent to dishonestly perform their duty as a pub - lic servant, as provided under Section 7 of the PCA, the punishment prescribed for the public servant is minimum imprisonment of three years and up to seven years, along with a fine. For the offence of taking advantage to influence a public servant by use of personal influence, as pro - vided under Section 7A of the PCA, the punishment prescribed for an individual person is minimum impris - onment of three years and up to seven years, along with a fine. For the offence of bribing a public servant to induce such public servant to improperly perform a public duty or to reward the public servant’s improper per - formance, under Section 8 of the PCA, the punish - ment prescribed for an individual person is minimum imprisonment of three years and up to seven years, along with a fine. For a commercial organisation, there is only a fine. For the offence of giving or promising to give any undue advantage to a public servant to obtain or retain business, or to obtain or retain any advantage in the conduct of its business, as provided under Sec - tion 9 of the PCA, the punishment prescribed for a commercial organisation is a fine. For the offence of being in charge of a commercial organisation and found guilty under Section 9 of the PCA, the relevant individual official of the commercial
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