The meaning of public servant

 What do you mean by ‘public servant’? Please illustrate with the aid of decided cases.

Distinguish between a ‘Public Servant’ and a ‘Government Servant’.

The term Government servant is a reference to the term of “servant of Government” which is provided in the Section 17 of the Indian Penal Code. It means and denotes any officer or servant continued, appointed or employed in India by or the authority of the Government.

The Government may either be the Union Government or a State Government.

Section 21 of IPC however, defines the term ‘public servant’ and it includes a number of functionaries who are denoted as the public servants. However, a public servant is one who has to discharge some public duty, but the same does not hold good for the Government Servant. All the Government servants are not the public servants as they may be appointed by the Government but not performing a public duty

The term public servant is not synonymous with the term servant of government. ‘Public Servant is wider in scope as compared to ‘servant of government.’ The term public servant includes even a person who is in service or pay of a local authority, corporation established by a Central or State Government or Government Companies.

The most striking distinction between the two terms is that even if a person is not appointed by the Government, he may be referred to as a public servant if they fall under the description provided in Section 21, but this is not the case with the Government Servant. A Government servant has to be mandatorily appointed under the authority of either Central or State Government specifically a municipal or local authority.