LAKSHMI KANTA HAZRA Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in this case has been convicted under Section 76(b) of the Bengal Embankment Act (Act II of 1882) on the ground that, within an area included in a prohibitory notification issued under Section 6 of the Act, be had, without the previous permission of the Collector, added to an existing embankment. For this offence he has been sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 50. An order has also been made under Section 79 directing him to remove the added portion of the embankment.

(2.) It is contended on his behalf by his learned Counsel that the conviction is bad:--first, because there is no proof on the record that a notification covering the land, on which the embankment stands, was issued under Section 6; secondly, because the petitioner holds the land under a lease from the Government requiring him to erect embankments and maintain them; thirdly, because the petitioner being an occupancy raiyat has statutory rights under the Bengal Tenancy Act which include the right to erect, or add to an embankment; and fourthly, because it is said an "existing embankment," within the meaning of the Act, is an embankment which existed at the date of the notification under Section 6.

(3.) We are of opinion that the conviction cannot be successfully attacked in revision on any of these grounds.