ANIRUDDHA PRASAD SINGH Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal arises from a judgment dtd. 9/12/1988 of the Judge, Special Court (E.C. Act), Midnapore in D.E.B.G.R Case No. 8 of 1986. The impugned judgment was passed under sec. 7 (1) (a) (ii), of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and paragraph 12 of the West Bengal Kerosene Control Order, 1968. The appellant was convicted under the aforesaid provisions with fine and simple imprisonment.

(2.) The alleged offence occurred on 22/4/1986 and an FIR was lodged on the same day by the defacto complainant, Tapan Kumar Mukherjee (PW/1).

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that the defacto complainant (Tapan Kumar Mukherjee) conducted a raid at the shop cum godown of the appellant on 22/4/1986. The appellant produced the trade licence before the complainant on requisition and the trade licence reflected that the appellant is a dealer of kerosene oil. The stock -cum- purchase register revealed that on 22/4/1986 the opening balance of kerosene oil was 3570 litres but upon measurement 3025 litres of kerosene oil was found to be present in the appellant's shop cum godown. Hence there was a deficit on 545 litres of kerosene oil. P.S. Case No. 20 of 1986 was registered against the appellant on 22/4/1986 on the basis of the complaint of Tapan Kumar Mukherjee before the Kharagpur Town Police Station.