P S SINGARAYAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is the accused in C. C. No. 13 of 1993 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate, Eraniel and he was tried for offences punishable under S. 33 EF. A (d) and 33 EE C (a)(i) r/w 33 I (i)(b) of Drugs and Cosmetics Act. He was sentenced to imprisonment till rising of Court and also to pay a fine of Rs.4,000/- with a default sentence of 6 months. On appeal, the conviction and sentence were confirmed.

(2.) The allegation against the petitioner is that P.W.1, the Drugs Inspector inspected the pharmacy belonging to the petitioner at Thickanamcode and found the medicinal preparation 'Asoka Aristom' in bottles without lables and took samples from the medicinal preparation and when the sample was analysed by the Government analyst, a foreign material Morphine was found in the preparation and therefore he laid the complaint.

(3.) Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that for any cognizance to be taken by the Court for the offence with which the accused was charged, a sanction is sine qua non in terms of S. 33(M) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. He submits that before the trial Court, the prosecution marked Ex. P. 13 an order purporting to be a sanction order and a perusal of the same indicates that the sanction order was not actually given by the Director of Drugs Control and therefore there is no sanction and hence the whole proceedings are bad in law.