MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE Vs. ARJAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON 11th March 1968 Ram Parkash. Food Inspector, Municipal Committee, Amritsar. went to the shop of Arjan Singh in Dhab Wasti Ram, Amritsar, and found 70 Kgs. of edible oil for sale in a drum. After disclosing his identity. Ram Parkash took a sample of the oil for analysis in the presence of Kala Mal and Jassa Singh after fully complying with the requirements of law. The sample was put in three dry and clean bottles and the bottles were then stoppered and sealed. One of the bottles was given to the accused, the second was retained by the Municipal Committee and the third was sent to the Public Analyst. On receipt of the report of the public Analyst that the sample of toria was adulterated as it contained a mixture of til oil, a complaint was filed against the accused. On the basis of this complaint, the accused was tried but was acquitted by the judicial Magistrate First Class. Amritsar, by order dated 27th September, 1968, for the reason that the quantity of til oil present in the sample was not shown in the report. Being aggrieved the Municipal Committee has challenged this order in appeal by special leave in which a notice was issued to the accused.

(2.) RULE 44 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955, which, prohibits sale of certain admixtures provides that no person shall sell a mixture of two or more edible oils as an edible oil. Item A-23 of Appendix B to the Rules defines mustard seed and reads as under: Mustard seed means the dried, ripe seed of Brassica nigra, Brassica Juncea and other allied cultivated varieties of the species belonging to the natural order Cruciferae and to the genus Sinapis or Brassica. The common species are black or brown mustard (B. nigra), brown or serepta mustard (B. besseriana), white or yellow mustard (S. alba) and Indian mustard (B. juncea ). It shall not contain:

(3.) FROM the fact that mustard seed is allowed to contain 5 per cent, of foreign organic matter and other seeds excepting argemone seeds, the learned trial Court concluded that the mere presence of any other edible oil in minor traces did not make the mustard oil a mixture of two oils. In this view of the matter, it was held that in the absence of the data in the report of the Public Analyst as to the quantity of til oil in the sample analysed, the sample could not be considered adulterated. A possibility of negligible quantity of til oil having got mixed accidentally could not be ruled out. The view taken by the learned trial Court was that as long as the test for argemone oil was negative, the presence of minor traces of any other oil would not make it a mixture of two edible oils especially in view of the meaning given to mustard seeds in the Rules.