BOMPADA CHANDRASEKHAR Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Appeal is directed against the judgment dated 18-6-1996 in STC No.1/1994 on the file of the Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge for Cases under Essential Commodities Act, Vizianagaram.

(2.) The appellants were found guilty for the offence under Section 7 of theEssential Commodities Act (for short the Act) read with Clause 25 of the A.P. Petroleum Products (Licensing and Regulation of Supplies) Order, 1980 (for short the Order, 1980) and Clause 5 of the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (Prevention of Malpractices in Supply and Distribution) Order, 1990 (for short the Order, 1990), convicted and sentenced each of them to undergo simple imprisonment for six months and to pay a fineof Rs.2,000/- in default to suffer simple imprisonment for one month.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that A-1 Bompada Chandrasekhar isproprietor of M/s. Babu Filling Station, H.P.C. Dealer, Parvathipuram and doing business in petroleum products and A-2 is son of A-l and managing the business. P.W.3 P. Rama Rao, Inspector of Police,. Vigilance, Vizianagaram, on reliable information on 23-6-1993 inspected the business premises of M/s. Babu Filling Station, Parvathipuram at about 9-45 a.m. in the presence of mediators P.W.2 K. Somulu, Revenue Inspector and another and found the second petitioner attending to the business, inspected the records and found book stock of 3630 litres of High Speed Diesel as opening balance and 1011 litres of Motor Spirit as opening balance on that day and also checked the ground balance and found within permissible limits, then he conducted density test of H.S.D. and found to be 0.8315 and found the density as 0.8519 noted in the invoice. He also conducted density test of Motor Spirit and found to be 0.7286 and found it to be within permissible limits. Then he collected the samples of both Motor Spirit and Highspeed Diesel in clean bottles, handed over one such bottle of H.S.D. and M.S. to A-2 and sent one set of bottles for analysis and seized stock book, bill books of H.S.D. and M.S. creditcoupons, density record in the presence of P.W.2 under Ex.P-3. P.W.I, J. Satyanarayana, Analyst, Indian Oil Corporation analysed the sample and found the density of M.S. at 0.7305 and that of H.S.D. at 0.8343 and compared the density recorded by the dealer on 22-6-1993 as 0.8315 and found to be beyond permissible limits. He also found the density of Motor Spirit as 0.7305 and compared the density recorded by the dealer at 0.7278 and found it within permissible limits and sent report, Ex.P-2. P.W.3 registered a case and issued FIR, Ex.P-4 and after completion of investigation, he filed charge sheet after obtaining permission from the Joint Collector, sanction proceedings.