DAHYABHAI KALUBHAI Vs. KADI CHILLING

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present appellant -orig. complainant (hereinafter referred to as 'the appellant') has preferred the present appeal against the judgment and order of acquittal dated 27th July, 1993, passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Kadi, in Criminal Case No.33 of 1987, whereby the learned trial Judge has acquitted the respondents -accused of all the charges levelled against them in respect of the offence in question. The Criminal Case came to be filed against the respondent nos.1 to 5 herein on the private complaint filed by the present appellant of Gujarat State Pollution Control Board, Ahmedabad (hereinafter referred to as 'the Board'), alleging commission of the offence by the respondent nos.1 to 5 herein named in the complaint under Section 44 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.

(2.) AT the conclusion of the trial on evaluation of the oral as well as documentary evidence, the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class decided to acquit the orig.accused persons for the reasons assigned in the judgment and order under challenge in this appeal. The appellant being aggrieved by the same, sought for leave to appeal under Section 378(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and on granting the said leave, the present appeal came to be filed. Shri N.D. Gohil, learned counsel appearing for the appellant -orig. complainant and mainly representing the Board, has taken me through the basic allegations made in the complaint and the judgment and order of acquittal in the background of the case placed before the Court in the memo of the appeal. The Court is informed that total five persons were joined as the accused persons; out of which three accused persons i.e. orig.accused no.2 -Shri Motibhai, orig.accused no.3 -Shri Babubhai and orig.accused no.4 -Shri B.M. Patel, have expired. A formal death certificate could have been produced but there is no serious challenge about the death of these three persons being known persons in the cooperative sector in the North Gujarat region and mainly District Mehsana. So obviously, the appeal would stand abated qua the orig.accused nos.2, 3 and 4. The orig.accused no.5 has retired from his service. But the Court cannot consider the fact of retirement because it is not a matter of dispute that at the relevant point of time when the sample of polluted water was drawn by the Board, he was with the orig.accused no.1 i.e. M/s. Kadi Chilling Centre, which is a cooperative society basically working under Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd. The Court at present is not concerned whether the accused no.1 -Cooperative Society had its own legal status or not. Therefore, the same has been prosecuted in the name and style of the Society i.e. M/s.Kadi Chilling Centre at Kadi.

(3.) TO appreciate the say of the complainant, firstly, the Court would like to mention the basic allegations made in the complaint. It is alleged that the orig.accused no.1 -Society was warned for discharging polluted water. The Board had granted permission to the orig.accused no.1 to discharge the polluted water keeping certain parametres in mind and it was also directed that the Society shall divert the discharged water so that the same can be utilized for the purpose of agriculture. It is alleged that the accused had failed in keeping the said parametres. For that purpose, they ought to have activated water affluent plant and it is also alleged that instead of using water for the purpose of agriculture, the orig.accused no.1 society was accumulating that polluted water in a ditch adjacent to the premises used for chilling milk.