SUHASINI UMESH KARANJKAR Vs. KOLHAPUR MUNICIPAL CORPORATION THROUGH ITS HEALTH OFFICER AND APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES HAVING OFFICE AT MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BUILDING SHIVAJI CHOWK KOLHAPUR THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR KOLHAPUR HAVING OFFICE AT NAGALA PARK KOLHAPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether the power to search, seize and seal "any other material object" conferred by Section 30 of the Preconception and pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 includes the power to search, seize and seal an ultrasound machine or any other machine or equipment, if the Appropriate Authority or Authorized Officer has reason to believe that it may furnish evidence of the commission of an offence punishable under the Act

(2.) Whether the decision of a Division Bench of this Court at Aurangabad Bench in Dadasaheb (Dr.) s/o Popatrao Tarte Vs. State of Maharashtra and others, 2010 2 MhLJ 110 taking the view that Section 30 does not confer such power in respect of an ultrasound machine lays down the correct law

(3.) In the present petition filed on 14 September 2010, the petitioner has challenged the action of the Appropriate Authority seizing and sealing the ultrasound machine on the ground that the Appropriate Authority and the Authorized Officer does not have any power to seize and seal an ultrasound machine. At the time of the preliminary hearing of this petition, counsel for the petitioner placed reliance on the decision of a Division Bench of this Court in Dadasaheb Vs. State of Maharashtra, 2010 2 MhLJ 110 in support of the contention that the Appropriate Authority has no power to seize or seal an ultrasound sonography machine. The following observations are contained in paragraph 12 of the judgment:-