The Prevention Of Corruption Act, 1947: A Historical, Doctrinal And Critical Study Of India's First Dedicated Anti-Corruption Statute
M. Shavetha, LLM (Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Administration), The Central Law College
ABSTRACT
The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 was independent India's first purpose-built statute addressing bribery and corruption among public servants. Enacted against the backdrop of wartime scarcity, administrative expansion and mounting concern over the integrity of public office, the Act supplemented the general provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 with a compact, specialised framework of six sections that later grew, through amendment, into a more elaborate anti-corruption code. This article traces the origins of the 1947 Act, examines its structure and key provisions, analyses its amendment history and judicial interpretation, and situates it within the broader evolution of Indian anti-corruption law culminating in its repeal and replacement by the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The article argues that although the 1947 Act was eventually superseded, its conceptual architecture the presumption of corruption, the requirement of sanction, and the treatment of disproportionate assets as evidence of criminal misconduct continues to shape anti-corruption jurisprudence in India to the present day.
Keywords: Prevention of Corruption Act 1947; bribery; criminal misconduct; public servant; Santhanam Committee; sanction for prosecution; Indian anti-corruption law.
