RAMKISHORE Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicant has been convicted under Section 13 of the Hoarding and Profiteering Prevention Ordinance for having refused to sell woolen cloth to one Ghulam Ahmad. The shop is carried on in the name of Messrs. Ram Gopal Lakshmi Narain and is at Sambhal. According to Ghulam Ahmad, he went to the shop on 29 December 1945, and wanted some woolen material but Ram Kishore who was at the shop refused to sell it to him.

(2.) Lakshmi Narain, Jagdish Saran and Ram Kishore were all prosecuted for the contravention of the Ordinance. Lakshmi Narain's defence was that he was no longer connected with the shop and was carrying on the business of an importer at Moradabad. Jagdish Saran admitted that he was the proprietor of the shop but pleaded that at the time of the occurrence he was not present. The defence of Ram Kishore was that he had not refused to sell the material to Ghulam Ahmad but as Ghulam Ahmad wanted to take the cloth on approval Ram Kishore had refused to give it to him. Ram Kishore produced two witnesses, Ram Saran and Akhtar Mohammad. The learned Magistrate acquitted Lakshmi Narain and Jagdish Saran but convicted Ram Kishore.

(3.) The learned Magistrate believed the evidence of the witnesses for the prosecution that Ram Kishore had refused to sell the cloth though it was available at the shop and disbelieved his defence that he had not refused to sell but had merely refused to give it on approval.