The Act of 1947 and the Act of 1988 Compared

The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 was a short, temporary statute enacted in wartime conditions, which supplemented the Penal Code rather than replacing it. The Act of 1988 is a consolidating statute which absorbed the Penal Code provisions, the Act of 1947 and the special judge machinery of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1952 into a single code. The differences are of structure, of coverage and of severity, and understanding them explains why the older case law on Section 5 of the 1947 Act remains directly relevant to Section 13 of the present Act.

1. The Comparison

Basis	Act of 1947	Act of 1988
Character	A supplementary and originally temporary statute, operating alongside Sections 161 to 165A of the Penal Code	A consolidating statute; the Penal Code sections were omitted and re-enacted within it
Principal offences	Section 5, criminal misconduct, in five clauses; the bribery offences remained in the Penal Code	Sections 7 to 12 for bribery and related offences, and Section 13 for criminal misconduct
Public servant	The narrower Penal Code definition applied	A wide functional definition in Section 2(c), covering office-bearers of aided cooperative societies, government companies, service commissions, judges, arbitrators and any person authorised to perform a public duty
Punishment	Comparatively low, with wide discretion	Enhanced, with minimum sentences prescribed for the principal offences
Presumption	Section 4 raised a presumption on proof of acceptance of gratification	Section 20 carries the presumption forward in substantially the same form
Disproportionate assets	Clause (e) of Section 5(1), inserted in 1964 on the Santhanam Committee's recommendation	Section 13(1)(e), and after 2018 Section 13(1)(b), in a recast form
Investigation	Section 5A restricted investigation to officers of a stated rank and required a magistrate's order in some cases	Section 17 prescribes the rank of the investigating officer, and Section 17A now requires prior approval in defined cases
Sanction	Governed by the general provision protecting public servants in the criminal procedure law	Section 19 makes specific provision, and after 2018 extends to former public servants
Special judges	Provided by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1952	Provided by Sections 3 to 6 within the Act itself, with a statutory timeline for trial

2. What Consolidation Achieved

One statute. A prosecutor no longer had to work across three enactments, and the definitions, offences, procedure and presumptions were brought into a single scheme.
A wider net. The functional definition of public servant in Section 2(c) brought within the Act large categories of persons performing public duties outside the traditional civil service, which the Penal Code definition had left out. The Explanation making designation and validity of appointment immaterial closed the arguments that had previously succeeded.
Greater severity. Minimum sentences were prescribed, removing the discretion under which corruption convictions had often attracted nominal punishment.
A dedicated forum with a timeline. The special judge provisions were placed in the Act itself, with a direction to hold the trial on a day to day basis and to conclude it within a stated period.

⚠ Why the old case law still matters

Section 13 of the Act of 1988 reproduced, with changes of arrangement rather than of substance, the criminal misconduct provisions of Section 5 of the Act of 1947. The result is that decisions on the older provision, particularly on the disproportionate assets offence and on what constitutes known sources of income, continue to be cited on the present section. The same is true of the presumption, Section 20 reproducing Section 4 in substance, and of the learning on demand and acceptance, which developed under the Penal Code sections now re-enacted as Sections 7 and 11. When reading an older authority the only question is whether the provision it construed survives in the same terms, which for criminal misconduct requires attention to the further recasting in 2018.

3. Continuity and Change in Criminal Misconduct

Under the Act of 1947, Section 5(1) described criminal misconduct in five clauses: habitual acceptance of gratification; habitual acceptance of a valuable thing without consideration; fraudulent misappropriation of property entrusted; obtaining a pecuniary advantage for himself or another by corrupt or illegal means or by abusing his position; and, after 1964, being in possession of pecuniary resources disproportionate to known sources of income.
Under the Act of 1988 as enacted, Section 13(1) carried these forward as clauses (a) to (e), the fourth becoming clause (d), which covered obtaining a valuable thing or pecuniary advantage by corrupt or illegal means, by abusing his position, or without any public interest, and the fifth becoming clause (e).
After the amendment of 2018, Section 13(1) was reduced to two clauses: fraudulent misappropriation or conversion of property entrusted, and intentional illicit enrichment. The abuse of position limb, clause (d), was deleted, which is the single most consequential change made by the amendment and is treated separately in the topics on the 2018 Act.

4. Transitional Effect

Section 30 of the Act of 1988 repealed the Act of 1947 and the relevant provisions of the Act of 1952, with a saving under which anything done or any action taken under the repealed enactments is deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of the new Act. Proceedings pending at the commencement therefore continued, and conduct committed before the commencement remains punishable under the law as it stood when the act was done, the protection in Article 20(1) of the Constitution against retrospective criminal liability and against a heavier penalty applying in the ordinary way. The same principle governs the 2018 amendment, so an offence committed before 26 July 2018 is tried under the provisions then in force.

5. Related Topics and Provisions

Topic or provision	Connection
History and Evolution of Anti-Corruption Law in India	The sequence from 1860 to 2018
The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988: Introduction, Object and Scope	The scheme of the present Act
The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018	The recasting of Section 13 and the new offences
Sections 2(c), 13, 19, 20 and 30, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988	Public servant, criminal misconduct, sanction, presumption and the repeal
Article 20(1), Constitution of India	No retrospective criminal liability or heavier penalty