SUDHIR KUMAR ARYA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These petitions are being decided by this judgment, since the prosecution case against them has similar pattern and counsel for the parties also argued them together.

(2.) Briefly, the allegation against the petitioners is that Director of Industries, Himachal Pradesh, on the assessment of the demand by Industries in the State, used to place the requirement of steam coal and hard coke, before the Director Movement, Railway Board, Eastern Railway, Calcutta. As a result of this, wagons for the supply of these commodities were allocated each year. The Himachal Pradesh State Small Scale Industries and Export Corporation was appointed agent by the Director of Industries and information regarding the movement of coal wagons from coal fields along with allocation of quota of coal used to be supplied to this Corporation by the Director of Industries. Initially, this Corporation acted as handling agent of the Director of Industries and used to come to Chandigarh for the purpose and then distributed the same to various industrial units located in the State. Due to the short fall of railway wagons, the quota of coal allotted to the State used to lapse every year. It was to be lifted from three coal fields Eastern Coal Field Ltd., Saktoria, Bharat Cooking Coal Field Ltd., Dhanbad and Central Coal Field Ltd., Ranchi. By this short receipt of coal, the industrial units of the State were starving due to the non-supply of coal requirements; these industrial units were approaching the Director of Industries for the supply of coal to the extent of their need.

(3.) The petitioners, namely, Sudhir Kumar Arya and Ravinder Nath Sliarrna came forward with the proposal to supply these requirements of coal to the State Industrial Units by road and undertook to supply the same as per the price fixed by the Director of Industries. They also undertook to open Depots near all the industrial areas in the State.