PANDEY PARASNATH RAI Vs. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has been convicted of an offence under Section 192, Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act (7 of 1922), and has been sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 50 or, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month.

(2.) The first point to be noticed is with regard to the sentence. A person committing an offence under Section 192 of the Act is liable to be fined--not exceeding Rs. 500 but is not liable to imprisonment otherwise than in default of payment of the fine. Therefore, by reason of Section 67, I.P.C., the imprisonment to be awarded in default of payment of the fine must be simple.

(3.) With regard to the merits, it has been contended that the prosecution is barred by limitation by reason of the provisions of Section 375, Municipal Act, which requires, in the case a continuing offence such as the present, that the prosecution shall be instituted within six months of the commission of the offence, or within six months from the time when it is first brought to the notice of the Commissioners of the Municipality.