ADARSH WOOLLEN INDUSTRIES PANIPAT Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner No. 1 is a partnership firm of which petitioners 2 to 8 are partners who cirry on the business of manufacture of woollen blankets and other woollen products at Panipat It was also registered with the Director of Industries. The petitioner firm had tendered 7178 numbers of woollen blankets for the use of the Army out of which 6848 were accented after inspection and despatched to the consignee, the C. O. D. Kanpur. After the goods were received by the consignee there was an allegation that the supplies were of substandard quality and re-inspection was arranged by tHe Deputy Director of Inspection, Kanpur (D.G.S. & D.) at the instance of the M.G.O. Branch (Army Headquarters, New Delhi). It was found as a resuit of inspection that as many as 2120 blankets, representing roughly 33% of the accepted lot, were of substandard quality. The blankets which were rejected after reinspection were found over-stamped and the year of supply shown on some of the blankets was 1964. This proved that in spite of the care exercised by the Inspectors at the time of initial inspection, the firm had substituted the inspected stores with sub-standard stores some of which had even been rejected in 1964.

(2.) The petitioner firm had supplied sub-standard stores against an earlier order dated 18-12-1964, the petitioner had admitted that it was due to mistake of the godown keeper that sub-standard material had been mixed up in the accepted stores.

(3.) In yet another case also C.O.D. Kanpur complained that the firm had supplied sub-standard blankets. On receipt of this complaint reinspection was conducted at the consignee's depot, Kanpur. It was revealed that the petitioner had been adopting the malpractice of mixing rejected/unacceptable stores with the accepted ones, the un- acceptable blankets were found to contain the forged acceptance mark of the Inspector, some of the accepted blankets were super-imposed with a wooden stamp marked 'Adarsh Panipat' and in the case of some of the blankets manufactured in 1964, the year of manufacture was defaced.