DHIRENDRA KUMAR Vs. SUPERINTENDENT AND REMEMBRANCER OF LEGAL AFFAIRS TO THE GOV ERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal under Article 134 (1) (c) of the constitution of India from the judgment of the High Court at Calcutta dated the 21st of March 1952 whereby the High Court upheld the conviction of the appellant under Section 467 of the Indian Penal Code but reduced the sentence passed upon him by the Additional Sessions Judge of Burdwan.

(2.) The appeal concerns one of a series of cases known generally as "The Burdwan Test Relief Fraud cases" which had their origin in the test relief operations held in the District of Burdwan in 1943 during the Bengal famine of that year. The acute scarcity and the prevailing distress of the famine - stricken people in the district called for immediate relief and test relief operations were undertaken by the District Magistrate. The Government of Bengal sanctioned four lakhs of rupees as advance to the District Board for such test relief operations. The District Board, however, instead of conducting the relief work directly, appointed several agents on commission basis through whom the test relief operations were carried out. This was in clear violation of the Bengal Famine Code and the Famine Manual, 1941, and as exceedingly large sums were being spent the suspicions of the Government were aroused about the 'bona fides' of the test relief work carried out through their agents. This led to an inquiry and as a result of this several cases were started against various persons and the appellant's case is one of them.

(3.) The Government reached the decision that these cases were not fit for trial by jury and accordingly on 24th February 1947 a notification was issued for trial of these cases by the Court of Session with the aid of assessors. The notification is in these terms: