Chandigarh, Feb. 9 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has asserted that a competent authority can't be forced by a court through judicial order to grant or refuse prosecution sanction in a complaint against a public servant.

"The discretionary powers of a competent authority to decide for or against grant of sanction for prosecution cannot be usurped or taken away while exercising power of judicial review," the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Anil Kshetarpal observed.

The plea was from an Ambala resident, Deepak Sandhu, who had approached the court seeking grant of prosecution sanction against a former Ambala chief judicial magistrate (CJM).

The petitioner had filed a complaint before Ambala district court alleging...