KIRTAN BHOI Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner stood prosecuted under Section 16(1)(a)(i) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (for short the Act') for his having kept adulterated turmeric powder, an article of food, for sale for human consumption in his shop. Learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Balangir, upon trial, found the petitioner guilty of the offence and consequently convicted and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for six months and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/ -, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two months. Feeling aggrieved, the petitioner carried appeal to the Sessions Court and the learned Additional Sessions Judge on re -appraisal of 'the evidence concurred with the findings of the trial Court and dismissed the appeal. Hence the revision.

(2.) SEVERAL grounds have been taken challenging correctness of the findings recorded by both the Courts below, but in course of argument the learned counsel for the petitioner confined his submission to the only ground that there was infraction of the mandatory provision of Section 13(2) of the Act, inasmuch as copy of the public analyst report was not supplied to the petitioner so as to afford him an opportunity to challenge the same by getting the sample analysed by the Central Food Laboratory. - -

(3.) IN the result the revision is allowed and the orders of conviction and sentence recorded against the petitioner are set aside.