(1.) THE present appellant was tried by the learned Special Judge, Biharsharif in Rahul (Wena) P.S. Case No. 266 of 1989 for a charge under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act and by judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed on 13.1.1994 was found guilty of committing the said offence by being directed to suffer simple imprisonment for one month as also to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- and in case of default in payment of the fine the appellant was directed to suffer simple imprisonment for another period of one month. THE appellant appeals against the above noted order of conviction and sentence.
(2.) A raid was conducted in a line hotel on 18.9.1998 at 6.30 p.m. which was allegedly belonging to the appellant and it was found that 20-25 litres of diesel were kept in a container. In addition to the above 18 to 20 litres of kerosene oil was also found in another container. Besides, the appellant was found also in possession of a few more empty containers. The raid was conducted by Sub-Inspector R.P. Ram of Wena police station and the recovered articles were seized by preparing a seizure memo in presence of Parashnath Pd. and Dayanand Paswan. PW.1 and PW.3 respectively. The informant S.I. R.P. Ram (not examined) drew up his self statement and forwarded it to Rahul P.S. for institution of a case which ultimately ended in sending up of the appellant for trial.
(3.) ON consideration of the evidence what appears as to this Court is that there was no sufficient evidence to hold that any search was made of the line hotel belonging to the appellant and any quantity of diesel was recovered. In addition to that the very provision for the violation of which the appellant was being convicted under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act was not applicable to the facts of the case as the recovered diesel was only 25 litres much below the maximum storage limit of 400 litres of diesel.