KAMLA KANT MISRA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicant is the manager of the Badal Ram Lakshami Narain Oil Mills at Banaras and has been convicted under Section 7, Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946 (XXIV [24] of 1946) for committing a breach of the provisions of the U. P. Oil Seeds and Oil Seeds' Products Control Order, 1945, inasmuch as a large stock of linseed oil-seeds received by the Mills was not entered in their registers, as it ought to have been under the conditions of the licence, for a period of nearly ten days. The trial Court sentenced the applicant to a fine of Rs. 500/-, but the lower appellate Court finding that the omission did not appear to have been dishonest and was due only to negligence or carelessness reduced the amount of the fine to Rs. 50/-.

(2.) In this Court it is argued that linseed oil-seeds not being an essential commodity as defined in Section 2 of the Act, the Control Order of 1945 cannot be said to have been kept alive by Section 17 of the Act in so far as it relates to linseed oil-seeds. In a case just decided by me--Gopi Krishna Malviya v. State, (Cri. Revn. No. 222 of 1950 D/- 21-8-1950) I have held that only such Orders passed under the Essential Supplies'(Temporary Powers) Ordinance, 1946 (XVIII [18] of 1946) were kept alive by Section 17 of the Act as related to essential commodities as defined in Section 2 of Act XXIV [24] of 1946. The Control Order of 1945 is one of the orders passed under the Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Ordinance, 1946, which was repealed by Section 17 of Act XXIV [24] of 1946, and it is necessary to see whether linseed oil-seeds are included in the definition of "essential commodity" as given in Section 2 of that Act. Clause (a) of Section 2 provides that "essential commodity" means any of the classes of commodities mentioned in that clause. These include "foodstuffs" and in Clause (c) of the same section "food stuffs" have been defined as including "edible oil-seeds and oils". The word 'edible', according to Webster's Dictionary, in its adjectival sense, means 'fit to be eaten as food; eatable, esculent.' According to Chambers' 20th Century Dictionary 'edible' in its adjectival sense means 'fit to be eaten'. Similarly according to the shorter Oxford Dictionary the word 'edible' in its adjectival sense means 'eatable, fit to be eaten'. According to Webster's Dictionary one of the manners in which linseed oil-seed is used is, 'as a food'. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Edn. 11.

(3.) My attention has been drawn to a number of publications and it is pointed out that in this country linseed oil-seeds are not regarded as a food-stuff. It cannot be said that these publications lead to the necessary conclusion that linseed oil-seeds are in fact not regarded as edible oil-seeds in this country. But there can be no doubt that they indicate that these oilseeds are not commonly regarded as an article of food. In a notification published in the U.P. Government Gazette, Extraordinary, dated 31-8-1946, the schedule to the U. P. Oilseeds and Oilseeds' Products Price Control Order, 1946, was substituted by a fresh schedule and in this schedule mustard and rape seeds and linseed are classed under two separate headings* Later the word 'edible' has been printed with-in brackets after the term 'mustard oil.' But the use of the word 'edible' after 'mustard oil' does not seem to carry any special meaning, Mustard oil may be eatable or it may be fit only to be used for burning or for other purposes and it seems to me that it was this distinction which was sought to be made out in this schedule. In the Indian Trade Journal, dated 9-6-1949, page 819, mention is made of Ireland's requirements in 1949 and these requirements are given under four headings. One of them is 'Edible,' i.e., Groundnut, Cottonseed oil, Gingelly oil or any other oil suitable for conversion into animal fats. The third heading is : Hard and Semi-hard (Palm Oil, etc.). The fourth heading is "Linseed." It is pointed out that this suggests that linseed is not an edible oil. I do not think that this is the necessary conclusion to be arrived at from this classification. Linseed oil has admittedly a large number of industrial uses also and it may be that this was the reason why linseed was placed in a separate class. It will be noted that 'palm oil' which includes cocoanut oil which is an edible oil has been put under a separate heading of "Hard and semi-hard." My attention has also been drawn to the proceedings of a meeting of Oil Mill-owners held at Banaras on 23-10-1946, in which some representatives of Government departments were also present. I am not sure if I can take judicial notice of this. No doubt, it is mentioned in the proceedings of this meeting that linseed oil came under the category of non-edible oils. In the U. P. Government Gazette, Extraordinary, dated 27-4-1948, Hindi edition, on p. 2 under the heading "Khane ke tel" various oils are mentioned. Linseed oil is not one of them, but towards the end of this paragraph it is mentioned that "Khane ke tel" would include those oils which the Government may notify as such. In the list of proposed 'Western German Imports from India, July 1949 to June 1950,' given in the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce, publication styled India's Trade Agreement with other countries, 1949, linseed has been placed under the heading "Chemicals" although peanut oil and peanut oil-seeds have been placed under the heading "Food and Agricultural Products." Similar is the case in Schedule B representing exports from India to Pakistan. Linseed oil is not placed under the beading "Edible oil" and has been given a separate heading. It may be that this is due to the special importance which attaches to linseed oil owing to its many industrial uses.