DINESHCHANDRA JAMNADAS GANDHI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition for grant of special leave under Art. 136 of the Constitution, coming up after notice to the State of Gujarat, the applicant seeks leave to appeal to this Court from the judgment of the High Court of Gujarat in Criminal Appeal No. 1097 of 1980 restoring the conviction and sentence passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Valsad, against the petitioner in Criminal Case No. 48 of 1979 for an offence under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 ('Act' for short).

(2.) Special leave is granted and the appeal is taken up for final hearing, heard and disposed of by this judgment.

(3.) Appellant was charged before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Valsad, by the Food Inspector, Navsari Municipality, with the offence of selling "kesari coloured sweet supari sali" alleged to have been adulterated with "Yellow basic coal-tar dye". The learned Magistrate found the appellant guilty of the offence and imposed a sentence of year's simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 2000, both of which were the statutorily compulsory minimum sentences under Sec. 16(l)(A)(i) of the Act.