KHANDESWAR PATRA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a revision petition against the appellate judgment of the Sessions Judge of Puri maintaining the conviction of the petitioner under Section 403 Indian Penal code and the sentence of six months rigorous imprisonment passed by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Khurda.

(2.) ONE Arakhit Patra is a resident of village Banpur in Khurda Sub-division of Puri district and the petitioner is none else but his brother in law (wife's brother ). The petitioner is also a resident of Banpur. Arakhit Patra was associated with the paddy procurement scheme of the Government of Orissa from 1944. He had other business also and the petitioner has been found by the trial Court to be Arakhit's partner in all his business activity. He was also working as his authorised agent and receiving a remuneration of Rs. 150/- per month. Arakhit agreed to be the storage agent of Government of Orissa for rice and paddy for the year 1957-58 and executed an agreement (Ext. 10) in a printed form in favour of the Government. The main function of the storage agent was to keep in safe custody stocks of rice and paddy delivered to him by the Collector on behalf of the Government, through any person authorised for the purpose and to dispose of the same according to the orders of the Collector from time to time --vide paragraph 4 of the Preamble to the Agreement. The food-grains were required to be stored in a godown known as depot which may be either owned or hired by a storage agent provided it is approved by the Collector for the purpose of stocking food-grains. (See Ext. 6 (f) ). The Collector and other authorised officers had a right to inspect the stocks kept in the depot. Clause 4 further says that in order to facilitate inspection the agent was required to affix at the entrance or some conspicuous place of the depot a notice to the following effect : "the Stock inside the depot belongs to and is the property of government. " paragraphs 2 and 3 of the preamble to the agreement reveal clearly the policy underlying the storage of food-grains. Government were concerned with the fact that there were chronically deficit areas where there was acute shortage of food-grains like rice and paddy and to meet the need of the people of those areas government adopted a policy of purchasing rice and paddy from surplus areas and stocking them at selected places to facilitate their despatch to deficit areas from time to time. The storage agent was required to keep the food-grains entrusted with him by Government in safe custody at a godown or depot to be approved by the Collector and to despatch the same to various places in accordance with the orders of the Collector issued from time to time. It is therefore obvious that removal of the food-grains from such depots, knowing them to be Government property, without the authority of the Collector would not only amount to a breach of the agreement but would also prevent regular inspection of the stocks of food-grains in the depots by inspecting authorities and also affect the prompt despatch of food-grains to deficit areas, as directed by the Collector from time to time. Thus the removal of food-grains from the depots would be an unsocial act which will have the far reaching effect of preventing the prompt supply of such an essential commodity like rice or paddy to deficit areas where due to certain sudden calamities like floods or drought it becomes necessary to despatch foodgrain very promptly. This aspect must be prominently borne in mind while considering the question as to whether the act alleged to have been committed by the petitioner amounts to a technical offence or should be viewed more seriously.

(3.) THE facts found concurrently by both the lower Courts which were, quite properly, not challenged by counsel for the petitioner, may now be summarised briefly. The petitioner appears to have had some misunderstanding with Arakhit patra due to the partnership business and other matters. Arakhit Patra had a depot at Balugan near Banpur in which Government paddy and rice were stored, and kept in charge of one Sanatan Swain who was his depot officer. On 10-10-1958 when Arakhit Swain was away at Puri and Sanatan Swain also had gone away to Khurda, the petitioner was said to have removed huge stocks of food-grains from the said depot to his own house at Banpur by bullock carts. There was an allegation that he sent some of the food-grains by truck to Berhampur, but evidence on this part of the prosecution case is not satisfactory. A relation of arakhit named Arjun (P. W.) on noticing this conduct of the petitioner immediately informed Arakhit on the phone and the latter contacted the Officers of the Supply department at Puri and then hurried to Balugan. Arakhit noticed that large quantities of food-grains had been removed from the depot. He immediately gave a written report to the Sub-divisional Officer, Khurda who was then camping at balugan. That officer directed the local Police to register a case under Section 408, i. P. C. An F. I. R. was drawn up on 11-10-58 at 10 p. m. In the meanwhile the Civil supplies Officer Puri Sri G. C. Nayak (P. W. 14) had hurried to the spot, inspected the depot and finding that large quantities of rice and paddy had been removed, he went to the house of the petitioner at Banpur and questioned him as to why he removed Govt. stocks of food-grains from the depot and asked him to return the same. The petitioner then told him bluntly that he would not return the stocks of rice and paddy unless Arakhit settled his accounts with his family. The Civil supplies Officer could not do anything more except to submit a report. (Ext. 19) to the Collector on 14-10-58. Meanwhile the Sub-Inspector of Police of Banpur (P. W. 10) took up investigation of the case and searched the house of the petitioner at 12 midnight on 11-10-58, and recovered about 350 bags of foodgrains from there. On 13-10-58 8 more bags of rice were recovered on production by the petitioner himself. Thus almost the entire quantity of food-grains taken away by the petitioner from the depot was recovered by the Police.