FOOD INSPECTOR BHIMAVARAM MUNICIPALITY Vs. KOPOURAVARI VENKATESWARULU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is filed by the State assailing the acquittal of the respondent-accused in C.C. No. 214 of 1991 by the II Addl. Judl. First Class Magistrate, Bhimavaram.

(2.) The matter comes before us on a reference by our learned brother Justice G. Radhakrishna Rao. The reference was provoked by two decisions of Justice Y. Bhaskara Rao in K. Kameswara Rao v. State of A.P., 1990 APLJ (Crl) 189 and Food Inspector, Karimnagar v. Kothakonda Shankar, 1991 APLJ (Crl) 116.

(3.) Our learned brother Justice Y. Bhaskara Rao in the above two decisions held that if the samples of food articles, which were purchased by the Food Inspector, are sent for analysis in polythene bags, there will be violation of Rule 14 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules'). In the former case, the learned Judge set aside the conviction by the trial court and acquitted the accused. In the latter case, he dismissed the appeal filed by the Food Inspector, upholding the acquittal of the accused. In both these decisions, it was assumed that the only compliance with Rule 14 of the Rules shall be if the samples are collected and sent to the analyst in bottles or jars. In the latter decision, it was made clearer that Rule 14 of the Rules requires the Food Inspector to collect the samples only in suitable bottles. Since the samples in that case were collected in polythene bags, the learned Judge found that Rule 14 of the Rules was violated. In coming to the above conclusion, the learned Judge, in the former decision, stated that this Court had followed the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding the said proposition.