HARIBHAU DHONDIBA CHAVAN Vs. BALKRISHNA BHIKOBA BALLAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) An agreement was entered into between the petitioner and respondent No. 1 under which the petitioner agreed to sell a tractor and a trolly bearing No. MHI 5059 to respondent No. 1. It was agreed between the parties that the transaction was to be completed by 15th of April, 1982 and in the event of it being not completed the petitioner was at liberty to take back the tractor and the trolly and the amount of earnest money was to be forfeited. As per the said agreement, respondent No. 1 paid Rs. 2000/- as earnest money and subsequently paid certain amounts from time to time thus amounting to Rs. 28,001/- to the petitioner. However, the final instalment which was due on 15th of April, 1982 was not paid. The petitioner waited for a considerable time thereafter and then in the month of April 1983 he took possession of the tractor and the trolly and has been using the same from then. However, on 18th January, 1984, the said tractor and trolly came to be seized from the custody of the petitioner by the police. It appears that respondent No. 1 had lodged a complaint against him of theft of this property on 11th January, 1984 for which a criminal case bearing No. 8 of 1984 was pending in the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Medha.

(2.) In the said case, both the petitioner and respondent No. 1 made applications for custody of the tractor and the trolly. According to the petitioner, he was the registered owner of the vehicle and the same was in his possession in pursuance of the terms of the agreement and, therefore, the question of theft did not arise and since the articles were seized from his custody he should be given possession of the same. According to respondent No. 1, he had paid Rs. 58,000/- to the petitioner towards purchase price and that the petitioner should not have taken away the vehicle in question from him and that is how he committed theft of the vehicles and that the same should be handed over to him. The applications filed by both the parties were disposed of by the learned trial Magistrate who by his judgment and order dated 21st April, 1984 granted the application of the petitioner and directed that the vehicle be given in his custody on he executing a bond of Rs. 60,000/- with one or two sureties in the like amount and an undertaking to produce the same as and when required.

(3.) Being aggrieved, respondent No. 1 filed Criminal Revision Application No. 7 of 1985 in the Sessions Court at Satara. The learned Sessions Judge, Satara, who heard the said revision application, allowed it as he was of the opinion that the learned trial Magistrate was not justified in giving custody of the vehicle to the petitioner although the petitioner was the registered owner. According to the learned Sessions Judge, respondent No. 1 was in lawful possession of the vehicle and since the vehicle was in his possession the custody ought to have been given to him. He accordingly directed that the vehicle in question be handed over to respondent No. 1 on his furnishing the bond of Rs. 60,000 (Rupees Sixty Thousand), with one surety in the like amount and that he would produce the vehicle before the Court whenever required. The learned Sessions Judges order dated 1st March, 1986 is impugned in this writ petition.