KIRITKUMAR HARJIVANDAS LUHANA Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant is convicted and sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for 3 months and to pay fine of Rs.500 and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for 15 days by the Special Judge Amreli on 31.5.1984 in Criminal Case No.4 of 1983 for the offence punishable under section 7 (1) (ii) of the Essential Commodities Act 1955 (Act for short hereinafter) and in this appeal under section 374 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1973 (Code for short). the appellant has challenged its legality and validity.

(2.) A few relevant and material facts giving birth to the present appeal may be shortly stated at the outset. The appellant who is the original accused was present in the shop of one Harjivandas situated at village Kotdapith on 19.4.1983 when the Mamlatdar of Babra Mr. J.G. Pandya all of a sudden visited the shop. The prosecution alleged that the Mamlatdar found that the appellant/accused had no licence for storing or keeping kerosene and despite that 41 litres of kerosene was found by the Mamlatdar from the said shop. The statement of the accused was recorded by the Mamlatdar which is produced at Ex.8. The District Supply Officer sanctioned the prosecution against the accused and therefore Mr. Pandya Mamlatdar filed the complaint before the police and on investigation the accused came to be charge-sheeted for having committed offence punishable under section 3 read with section 7 of the Act in the court of the Special Judge at Amreli. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. Several contentions were raised in the trial court. However the trial court on analysis and appreciation of the evidence on record reached to the conclusion that the accused is guilty for the aforesaid offence and passed the sentencing order as aforesaid and hence this conviction appeal at the instance of the original accused.

(3.) According to the prosecution case the accused had contravened the provisions of clause 16 of the Gujarat Petroleum Products (Licensing Control and Stock Declaration) Order 1979 (hereinafter referred to as the Order for the sake of convenience) . Clause 16 of the said Order reads as under: 16 Sale of petroleum products by retailer (1) No retailer shall sell any kind of petroleum products to any person - (a) other than a person who is not a dealer and (b) except in accordance with the provisions of this Order and the terms and conditions of a licence held by him under this Order. (2) No retailer shall sell at any one time any kind of petroleum products in excess of the limits fixed by (a) the State Government or as the case may be the Director of Civil Supplies or (b) a Collector of a district or the Food and Civil Supplies Controller Ahmedabad City or the licensing authority within whose jurisdiction or as the case may be the jurisdiction of which retailer carries on his business: Provided that where no such limit is fixed the limit shall be (i) for kerosene : one tin of 18.5 litres. (ii) for light diesel oil : one barrel of 220 litres. (iii) for high speed diesel oil : one barrel of 220 litres.