Define the term Public Officer

Question: Define the term Public Officer.

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Answer

Public Officer- The term public officer is defined under section 2(17) of CPC, 1908. It includes-

1. every Judge;
2. every member of an All-India Service;
3. every commissioned or gazetted officer in the military naval or air forces of the Union while serving under the Government;
4. Every officer of a court of Justice whose duty it is, as such officer, to investigate or report on any matter of law or fact, or to make, authenticate or keep any document, or to take charge or dispose of any property, or to execute any judicial process, or to administer any oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order, in the Court, and every person especially authorized by a court of Justice to perform any of such duties;
5. every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in confinement;
6. every officer of the Government whose duty it is, as such officer, to prevent offences, to give information of offences, to bring offenders to justice, or to protect the public health, safety or convenience;
7. every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property on behalf of the Government, or to make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the Government, or to execute any revenue process, or to investigate, or to report on, any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating to the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to prevent the infraction of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests of the Government; and
8. every officer in the service or pay of the Government, or remunerated by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty.

In the case of Mata Prasad v. Mandal Panchayat Morena, AIR 1959 MP 342, it was held that sarpanch is not a public officer as defined in Section 2(17) of the Civil Procedure Code. He is no doubt a public servant under the Panchayat Act, but that is a different matter. A similar position arose in Makundarao v. Durgaprasad, AIR 1944 Nag 130 where the president of the Village Panchayat Committee was sued. It was pointed out that the president of the Panchayat Committee was not a public officer for the purpose of the Code of Civil Procedure though he was a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code. The defendant has relied upon Cecil Cray v. Cantonment Committee of Poona, ILR 34 Bom 583 where the Cantonment Committee was Sued.

It was rightly held that the Cantonment Committee was a public officer within the meaning of Section 2 Clause (17), C. P. C. The point of difference is that a Cantonment Committee is in charge of the Cantonment Fund which is vested in the Government and, therefore, it was maintaining a fund on behalf of the Government. The Nyaya Panchayat is maintaining the Panchayat fund which is not vested in government but is vested in the Panchayat itself though one item in the fund is a contribution from Government. The test is not whether Government contributes to the Panchayat fund but whether the fund itself has vested in Government.

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