JEET RAM Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner Jeet Ram was convicted under Section 16(1)(a)(i) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, hereinafter to be called as "the Act" and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months and pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in case of default to further undergo simple imprisonment for two months, by the Court of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Nalagarh, District Solan, vide judgment dated 27th of December, 1996. Thereafter, he filed an appeal which has been dismissed by the learned Sessions Judge, Solan by his judgment dated 17.10.1997, thereby affirming his conviction and sentence. In these circumstances, he has filed the present revision petition.

(2.) The case against the Petitioner as set up before the learned Court below is that he was running a canteen within the factory premises of M/s. Drish Shoes Ltd., Bharatgarh Road at Rajpur, Teh. Nalagarh, Distt. Solan at the relevant time. On 11.6.1994 at about 8.30 a.m., Shri T.S. Verma, the then Food Inspector, inspected the canteen of the Petitioner. He found that the latter was having 20 kgs. of Cow's milk in a container for sale. Out of that quantity, 750 milk litres of milk was purchased by the said Food Inspector from the Petitioner for the purpose of analysis, after duly serving notice on him and on payment of its price in cash i.e. Rs. 6/-.

(3.) As is apparent from the record as well as the impugned judgments, the said Food Inspector went through all the formalities as required under the Act and the Rules thereof. At this stage, it will only be pertinent to mention here, that during this entire process, two other persons were present, namely, Mehar Chand and Badar Ali, as they had been joined by the Food Inspector for that purpose. After taking the sample, one part of it was sent to the Public Analyst, Chandigarh, while the other two parts were deposited in the office of the Local Health Authority, Solan. The Public Analyst, after analysis, found the sample of milk adulterated, for the reasons that it was found deficient in milk fat by 91% and milk solids not fat by 52% of the minimum prescribed standard. After the receipt of the report of the Public Analyst, the Local Health Authority, Solan duly gave sanction to the prosecution of the Petitioner for the alleged offence, resulting in filing of the complaint, which ultimately culminated in his conviction and sentence as aforementioned.