SHIV RAM Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition arises out of the judgment of conviction recorded by the learned Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Nurpur on the plea of guilt said to have been made by the petitioners for offences punishable under Sections 41 and 42 of the Indian Forest Act read with Sections 11 and 20 of Forest Produce Land Routes Rules, 1978.

(2.) It appears, on 15th March, 2000, Mohan Singh, Forest Guard, Incharge Tappa Beat was on normal patrol duty. He intercepted Truck No. HIL -5145. On search of the truck, 15 gunny bags containing semi wet Katha were found loaded in the Tool Box of the truck. At the relevant time, the truck was driven by Shiv Ram driver. Raghubir Singh, the other petitioner, was sitting along with the driver. They could not produce any permit for the export of Katha. The Katha was weighed and found to be 7.27 quintals. That Katha, it was revealed by Shiv Ram driver of the truck, was lifted from Katha Bhatti located in Ramnager area. The truck was owned by Ms. Kiran Bala daughter of Sh. Rabhubir Sharma who was accompanying the driver in the truck. Durga Dass, the third petitioner, was added as accused but there is no allegation against him in the complaint lodged by the Forest Range Officer. However, it appears, Durga Dass has a licensed Bhatti for the extraction of Katha at Jamgal in Ramnagar and the Katha was taken from his Bhatti.

(3.) On 8.6.2000, when the matter came up before the learned trial Magistrate, he directed issuance of bailable warrants against the accused -petitioners. On 2.3.2001, notice of accusation was given to all the accused namely, Raghubir Sharma, Durga Dass and Shiv Ram. The accusation, as given to the accused, was that all accused on 15.3.2000 transported 15 bags of Katha weighing about 7.27 Qtls Katha Bhatti to Indora in Truck No. HIL 5145 without transport permit from the DRO and thereby committed an offence punishable under Sections 41 and 42 of the Indian Forest Act read with Section 11 and 20 of Forest Produce Land Routes Rules, 1978. The accused were called upon to show cause "whether they plead guilty or not". The statement(s) of the accused were recorded and all of them stated that they "plead guilty". On this plea of the accused, the learned trial Magistrate convicted the accused and sentenced each one of them. The driver of the truck was sentenced to pay fine of Rs. 250, Raghubir Singh, authorised agent of the owner of the truck was sentenced to pay fine of Rs. 750 and contractor Durga Dass was sentenced to pay fine of Rs. 1,000. Accused were also sentenced to simple imprisonment till the rising of the Court. The sale poceed of Katha was directed to be confiscated to the State.