TRILOK SINGH Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) While disposing of the present application filed under Section 362 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, we are concerned with two issues involved for consideration. First is relatable to the claim of the applicant for being paid the price of 94 trees as was fetched in auction and the second is with respect to the interest accrued on the aforesaid claim, because the amount has been lying in fixed deposit.

(2.) Shorn of the unnecessary details, suffice it to say that a Division Bench of this Court by judgment dated 28-4-1995 passed in Criminal Appeal No. 90 of 1985 while partly allowing the appeal of the applicant directed that out of the total auction amount of Rs. 1,07,000/- for 212 trees, the applicant be proportionally paid the amount towards the price of 94 trees in the said auction. For ready reference we quote hereinbelow the operative part of the aforesaid Judgment, which reads thus :

(3.) Reading the judgment as a whole, the inescapable conclusion was that the Division Bench had declared that as far as 118 trees were concerned, they were felled from the State land, but 94 trees were felled from the land of the owner i.e. applicant and, therefore, on that basis the applicant was held entitled by the Division Bench to the payment of the price of these 94 trees. The error, which apparently crept into the calculation part was that the Division Bench observed that the amount of Rupees 1,07,000/- was the auction money for the entire lot of 212 trees and apparently, therefore, out of this amount of Rs. 1,07,000/-. (on pro-data-basis), for 94 trees the amount was to be calculated and paid to the applicant. As the subsequent events have shown this was a wrong calculation, a patent error apparent on the face of the record inasmuch as undoubtedly Rs. 1,07,000/- was not the auction amount for the entire lot of 212 trees. The trees actually were sold in two lots, one fetching Rs. 1,07,000/- and the other Rs. 57,500/-. Therefore, it becomes manifestly clear that as far as 94 trees and the entitlement of the' petitioner to receive price of these 94 trees was concerned, the amount had to be calculated separately and it could not be calculated from out of Rs. 1,07,000/- on proportionate basis from out of this amount. That is one part of the story.