STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. THAKUR AND COMPANY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) This appeal is by the State of Maharashtra. A Food Inspector visited the business place of the respondent on 8-1-1998 and took a sample from groundnut oil stored in a barrel. When one of the samples was sent to the public analyst for analysis it was reported that the sample was adulterated inasmuch as it did not conform to the standard prescribed for edible groundnut oil. The Food Inspector had seized all the barrels (54 in number) stacked in the same business place containing edible groundnut oil on the premise that all contained the same quality of groundnut oil. The respondent applied to the Court before which the prosecution was pending for release of 53 barrels of groundnut oil after keeping the one barrel from which sample was taken. The trial Magistrate passed an order as prayed for by the respondent against which the State preferred a revision before the Sessions court, Nagpur. The 6th Additional Sessions Judge, Nagpur affirmed the order passed by the Magistrate and hence the State approached the High court with a writ petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution. A division Bench of the High Court found no error in the orders passed by the trial Magistrate and the Sessions Judge and hence the writ petition was dismissed by the impugned judgment.

(3.) If the sample taken from one barrel is adulterated the question to be determined by the trial court is whether it was a representative sample of all the remaining barrels stacked at the same place. The seizure of 54 barrels was actually made on that assumption. What would happen if ultimately the court finds that it was a representative sample and in the meanwhile the contents of all the 53 barrels had gone to the innocent consumers It would make them consume adulterated groundnut oil. On the contrary, if the vendor is able to establish either that the analysis was wrong or (even if correct) the contents of that barrel did not represent the contents of all the remaining barrels, he would then be in a position to make a prayer, on his own right, for return of the groundnut oil contained in 53 barrels.