ADVOCATE GENERAL ANDHRA PRADESH Vs. D SESHAGIRI RAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Advocate General, Andhra Pradesh, has filed this petition against D. Seshagirirao, the respondent herein, for action under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Contempt of Courts Act. The respondent is said to have committed contempt of court by reason of the scurrilous attacks which he made against the Additional Sessions Judge, Rajahmundry, and thr Judicial Second Class Magistrate, Kakinada in the letters which he addressed to them on 30-10-1964.

(2.) In order to appreciate the points at issue, it may he necessary to state a feu facts.

(3.) The respondent filed a criminal com-plaint against the officials of Gurazanapalli Salt Factory, near Kakinada in East Godavari District under Sections 447, 506 and 500 I. P C. and Section 22-D of the Central Excises and Salt Act, No. I of 1944 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), alleging that without any manner of justification they trespassed upon the land (salt pan). and prevented him from manufacturing salt for a day. He claimed title to the land, and also contended that he was under no obligation to take a licence from the department for manufacturing salt on the ground that no notification was issued by the Government to that effect in respect of the land in question The trial Magistrate held that the salt officials committed the acts alleged in the exercise of their duty and that no injury had been caused to the respondent, and acquitted the accused Against thr judgment of acquittal, the respondent carried the matter in appeal to this court in Criminal Appeal No. 266 of 1962, Sharfuddin Ahmed. J., in his judgment dated of 16-10-1962, observed that the public prosecutor conceded that no notification under Section 6 of the Act had been issued requiring a licence to be taken even in the case of small scale manufacture of salt Even so, it was argued on behalf of the Department before the learned Judge that according to the lease deed executed by the respondent in favour of the salt officials, he was prevented from subletting, and as the officers honestly thought that the respondent had sublet, they thought they had to prevent the complainant from manufacturing the salt. The learned Judge found that the respondent was in possession of the land and manufacturing salt for quite a long period. that he also executed a lease in favour of the department in 1953, and that the lease was be ing acted upon The officers gave notice to the respondent and sought the help of the police in order to prevent manufacture of salt as they believed that the respondent sublet the pan, and they acted bona fide in the discharge of their duties They did not bear any grudge towards the respondent and were not interested in dispossessing him or inducting some other person, and soon after the police refused to interfere in the matter, the department withdrew then peons from the site, and the work was not stopped for more than a day. The learned Judge, therefore, held that there was no criminal intention on the part of the officers when they entered upon the property, and that they were not liable for an offence under Section 447 1. P. C., and con-finned the judgment of the Magistrate.