New Delhi: Taking a bribe of Rs 101 by a senior clerk in the Licensing Board of Gujarat has entailed him a litigation of nearly 20 years and at the end of it, the Supreme Court has upheld his conviction and sentence for a year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 100.

Taking into account the judgements of the special judge Ahmedabad, which was upheld by the Gujarat High Court, a Bench comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde and Justice B P Singh dismissed the appeal filed by the senior clerk.

It said, "We have heard arguments and perused the records and we find no justification to interfere with the concurrent findings of the two courts below."

G L Raval, working as a senior clerk in the office of the Licensing Board of Gujarat, was responsible for clearing TA (travelling allowance), DA (dearness allowance) bills of the complainant, a junior assistant electrical inspector.

The prosecution case was that Raval had demanded Rs 101 for clearing one such bill of the complainant. The complainant approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau and a trap was laid leading to the senior clerk being caught red-handed with the money on December 19, 1984.