IN RE: ELUMALAI AND ANR. Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE two appellants, aggrieved by the order of the Second Presidency Magistrate convicting them for offences under Rule 5 of the Madras Rationing Order, 1965, read with Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, appeal against their conviction.

(2.) THE Charge against them reads as follows: First : - -That you on or about 12th day of August, 1966, at about 11 : 10 p.m. that you Accused 1 being the lorry driver and that you accused 2 being the cleaner and that you accused 3 being the owner, stored 61 bags of Sooji at No. 173, Anna Pillai Street, Madras, without valid permit required under the Madras Rationing Order, 1965, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Rule 5 of the Madras Rationing Order 1965, read with Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act. And I hereby direct that you be tried before me on the said charges. It is apparently seen that the gravamen of the charge is that accused 1 and 2 being the lorry driver and the cleaner stored 61 bags of Sooji at No. 173, Anna Pillai Street, Madras, without valid permit.

(3.) P .W. 1 says that on 12th August, 1966 at 11 : 10 p.m. when he was checking lorries entering Anna Pillai Street, he saw lorry MDU 5357 entering Anna Pillai Street. He stopped and checked it. Accused 1 was the driver and accused 2, the cleaner. The lorry bore a load of 61 bags of Sooji. P.W. 1 seized the trip sheet Exhibit P -1 which disclosed that the load came from Thiruvothiyur. He seized the documents, produced by accused 1 (Exhibits P -2 to P -4). His further evidence is that Sooji was a rationed article and the accused had no permit to take it into the Rationed area. He seized the load under Mahazar Exhibit P -5.