M C GUHA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has been convicted under Section 72 -A of the Mines Act, 1952 (Act No. XXXV of 1952) (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). While the trial court had sentenced him to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/ -, in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for one month, the lower appellate court while upholding the conviction has reduced the sentence to a fine of Rs. 500/ - only, in default, simple imprisonment for 15 days.

(2.) THE petitioner was prosecuted under Section 72 -A of the Act for non -compliance with an order issued under regulation 105(4) of the Coal Mines Regulations 1957 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Regulations'). These regulations were framed by the Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 57 of the Act. The order in question is issued under regulation 105(4) of the Regulations passed by the Director General of Mines Safety of India under a letter dated the 22nd of September, 1967. The petitioner was at the relevant time the owner of Khas Katrasgarh Colliery in the district of Dhanbad. The Director General of Mines Safety having been informed that the stability of the District Board road and surface buildings had been endangered due to the mining operations carried on by the petitioner, by the aforesaid letter directed the petitioner to pack solid all the galleries in Seam No. 7 (now called Seam No. 4) beneath and Within 15 metres of the District Board road and the Bustee where the depth of hard superincumbent strata was less than 15 metres. The petitioner was further directed to comply with the aforesaid order within three months from the date of issue of that letter.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner did not challenge the fact that such an order was passed and was duly communicated to the petitioner. It is also not disputed that the petitioner failed to comply with the aforesaid direction and that the Director General of Mines Safety also exercises the powers of the Chief Inspector under the Regulations. The only points that were raised in support of this petition are these. Firstly, that the seam in question having already been worked before the regulations were framed in 1957, regulation 105(4) could not cover a case where the Director General of Mines Safety could issue an order under that regulation directing the petitioner to fill up the seams which had already been worked up before the coming into force of the Regulations when no mining operations were still being carried on in the seam in question. The second point urged by learned counsel was that it being admitted that the Deputy Director of Mines Safety, S.C. Batra (P.W. 2) visited the colliery on the 26th of July, 1968 and found that no packing of the galleries in the seam had been done as per the aforesaid direction, the cognisance of the offence, if any, was barred by Section 79 of the Act, the complaint having been filed more than six months later.