NILMANI GHATAK Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in this case has been convicted of an offence under a bye-law made under Section 140 of the Bengal Local Self-government Act, 1885. He has been fined in respect of a continuing offence. The bye-law on which the proceedings are based, is that, "no person shall damage or encroach on any part of a road, its slopes or side-ditches by," among other things, "placing a fence thereon."

(2.) We have granted a rule to show cause why the conviction of the petitioner should not be set aside on the ground that the land alleged to have been encroached on is not such a road or roadside land or slope as is contemplated by the Act and the bye-laws framed thereunder.

(3.) The question of fact, which the Court below has decided, is whether the fence, which has admittedly been constructed, stands on the slope of the Rajmehal road. Reviewing a considerable body of evidence with apparently considerable discretion, the Court has found that the present fencing stands on the District Board roadside land, and has added a further direction which is immaterial to the present purpose. On Considering the facts on which this finding is based, and on looking at the evidence on the record, we see no reason at all to differ from this view of the case.