CH YEGNAIAH Vs. STATE OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners, who are accused 1 to 3, invoked the inherent powers of this Court under Section 482 Cr.PC seeking to quash the proceedings in C.C. No.956 of 2000 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Jadcherla.

(2.) A brief resume of background of the facts is necessary, enter. The Inspector of Police, Vigilance Cell, Civil Supplies Department, Mahaboobnagar inspected the petrol bunk of the first accused, M/s. Yadaiah and sons, a Bharat Petroleum Corporation dealer and recorded density in the presence of the mediators in the morning hours. The said inspector also has drawn samples in three bottles from each tank of MS and HSD outlet nozzles. He sent two sample bottles for analysis. Basing on the report of the analyst, the said Inspector registered a case against the petitioners in Crime No. 123/ VC.MBNR/99 since there was variation in the density beyond the permissible limits and malpractices violating the provisions of the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prevention of Malpractices) Order, 1998 and sought to punish the accused under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act for contravention of clause 2(e) and clause 5 of MS & HSD (RSDPM) Order, 1998 for short ('the MS & HSD Order).

(3.) The learned Counsel for the petitioners assails the proceedings on two grounds. The first ground is that the Inspector of Police, Vigilance Cell, Civil Supplies Department is not authorised to make search and seizure and the same has to be conducted by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police in view of Clause IV of the MS & HSD Order. The second contention is that the petitioner has not been supplied with analyst report immediately and no sample bottle has been supplied to get it tested from an independent analyst. Reliance is placed on the provisions of the Food Adulteration Act and Fertilizer (Control) Order. The learned Counsel for the petitioners wanted to draw my attention on the applicability of the provisions by analogy.