The Madras high court has ruled that a person facing criminal trial under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) has no right to demand promotion.
Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar dismissed a writ petition filed by C. Murugesan who was booked under PCA for taking a bribe of Rs 15,000 for releasing a truck and cited a Supreme Court judgment to hold that if an employee is undergoing any penalty the promotion must be withheld.
The judge also said that the person could seek notional promotion even after his retirement if he was acquitted in the case.
Then a head constable in Salem, Murugesan prayed for a direction to higher officials to promote him as special sub-inspector of police, irrespective of the case pending against him in a chargesheet filed in 2003 before the local chief judicial magistrate.