N Criminal Appeal No 247 of 1984
Appeal by Special leave from the judgement and order dated the 28th July 1982 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Criminal Misc
No 1472 M82
KC Dua and SK Bagga for the Appellant
Frank Anthony and Sushil Kumar for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DESAI J
Special leave granted
One Nohar Chand the respondent herein was carrying on 841 business of manufacturing fertilisers at Ludhiana under the name and style of Ms Varinder Agro Chemicals India
One inspector designated as Fertiliser Inspector visited the premises of Ms Sachdeva Enterprises Kapurthala  agent  for short on December 12 1978 and obtained a sample of the fertiliser manufactured by Nohar Chand which was being marketed by the agent
The sample was obtained for the purpose of analysis to ascertain whether it conformed to the prescribed standard
On analysis it was found to be sub standard
The Chief Agricultural Officer Kapurthala filed a criminal complaint being CC No 156 C of 1980 on December 24 1980 in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Kapurthala against the two partners of Ms Sachdeva Enterprises one Raj Shetty and respondent Nohar Chand Gupta the manufacturer of sub standard fertiliser us 13 A of the read with Section 131a of the Fertilisers Control Order 1957
The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate framed the charge against all the accused for the aforementioned offence
On July 20 1981 respondent Nohar Chand moved an application before the learned Magistrate praying that he be discharged and the proceedings be dropped against him on the ground that the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Kapurthala had no territorial jurisdiction to try him because he carried on business of manufacture of fertilisers at Ludhiana
The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate following the decision of the Gujarat High Court in State of Gujarat vs Agro Chemicals discharged the respondent and dropped the proceedings against him
The State of Punjab preferred Criminal Revision Application No 48 of 1981 in the Court of the learned Additional Sessions Judge Kapurthala who by his judgment and order dated February 13 1982 set aside the order of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate holding that in view of the provisions contained in Section 180 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Kapurthala had jurisdiction to try the respondent along with the other co accused
Thereupon the respondent preferred a revision petition being Criminal Misc
No 1473 M of 1982 in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana
A learned Single Judge of the High Court held that in view of the decision in Satinder Singh and Ors
vs State of Punjab which accepted the view taken by the Gujarat High Court the learned Additional Sessions Judge was in error in interfering with the order of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate and that the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate 842 Kapurthala had no jurisdiction to try Nohar Chand the manufacturer
Accordingly the revision application was allowed and the decision of the learned Additional Sessions Judge was set aside and the one by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate was restored
Hence this appeal by special leave
The allegation against the respondent was that he manufactured sub standard fertiliser and through his marketing agents Ms Sachdeva Enterprises Kapurthala marketed the same
The offence was disclosed when the Fertiliser Inspector took a sample of the substandard fertiliser from the marketing agents at Kapurthala
It is an admitted position that the respondent who is the manufacturer carries on his business of manufacturing fertilisers at Ludhiana
The question posed is whether the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Kapurthala where the marketing agents of sub standard fertiliser manufactured by the respondent marketed the same will have jurisdiction to try the respondent the manufacturer of the sub standard fertiliser along with the marketing agents
The learned Single Judge of the High Court following the decision in Satinder Singh s case held that the manufacturer of sub standard fertiliser cannot be tried where the commodity was being marketed
The view taken by the High Court with respect is wholly untenable in law
But before examining the legal position subsequent development of law in the same High Court on this very point may be noticed
To begin with let it be pointed out that the decision against which the present appeal is being heard was quoted before another learned Single Judge of the same High Court and as the learned Single Judge had grave doubt about the correctness of the view taken by the learned Judge in this case he referred the matter for authoritative pronouncement to a larger bench of the same High Court
This referred matter Incharge Production Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Ltd HAFED Fertilizer vs State of Punjab came up for hearing before a Division Bench of the High Court
The Division Bench referred to the decision rendered by the learned Single Judge in this case and clearly disapproved it and in terms overruled it
Simultaneously it also overruled the decision in Satinder Singh s case which the learned Judge had followed in this case
It can be safely said that the larger 843 bench of the High Court has disapproved the view taken by the learned Judge in this case
The respondent the manufacturer of the sub standard fertiliser is to be tried alongwith those who marketed the sub standard fertiliser manufactured by him as his agents
The question is whether the court where the sub standard fertiliser is marketed would have jurisdiction to try the manufacturer of the sub standard fertiliser whose manufacturing activity is at a different place
This very argument was posed before the Division Bench of the High Court
The High Court after referring to Sections 179 and 180 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 held that the court where sub standard fertiliser was found to be marketed will have the jurisdiction to try the manufacturer of sub standard fertiliser even if the manufacturing activity is at an entirely different place
The Division Bench held that the manufacturer as well as the dealer can be tried at a place where the consequences of the manufacturing and selling of sub standard fertiliser had ensued as envisaged in Sections 179 and 180 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
That in our opinion appears to be the correct view in law
Section 179 provides that when an act is an offence by reason of anything which has been done and of a consequence which has ensued the offence may be inquired into or tried by a court within whose local jurisdiction such thing has been done or such consequence has ensued
Section 180 provides that where an act is an offence by reason of its relation to any other act which is also an offence or which would be an offence if the doer were capable of committing an offence the first mentioned offence may be inquired into or tried by a court within whose local jurisdiction either act was done
Now if manufacturing sub standard fertiliser is by itself an offence and marketing the sub standard fertiliser is itself a distinct offence but they are so inter connected as cause and effect both can be tried at one or the other place
If one manufactures the sub standard fertiliser wherever it is marketed the inter relation or casual connection is of cause and effect
The situation will be adequately covered by Secs
179 and 180 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
We are in agreement with the later decision of the Division Bench rendered on March 9 1983 that the court where the sub standard fertiliser is being marketed will equally have the 844 jurisdiction to try the manufacturer of sub standard fertiliser
This is so obvious that any further discussion appears to us to be superfluous
Mr Frank Anthony learned counsel who appeared for the respondent urged that the concurring decision of Alagiriswami J in Bhagwandas Jagdish Chander vs Delhi Administration would clearly show that the manufacture of an adulterated article of food and selling the same cannot be said to be part and parcel of the same transaction and that unless therefore the complaint shows that the sample of fertiliser was taken from a bag of fertiliser as delivered by the manufacturer it is distinctly possible that adulteration may have taken place on a subsequent occasion and therefore one cannot infer manufacture of sub standard fertiliser from it being so marketed when the sample was taken from the marketing agency
This approach overlooks the fact that the trial is yet to be held
One can envisage two situations
When a sample of fertiliser is taken from a bag which was in the same condition as delivered by the manufacturer and it was in possession of a marketing agent manufacture and sale of sub standard fertiliser would constitute indisputably one transaction
But this is predicated upon the facts which may be disclosed in the trial and proved
In Bhagwandas Jagdish Chander s case the allegation was that the appellant before the court sold ghee to a vendor which was on analysis found to be adulterated and both were jointly tried under Section 7 read with Sec 16 of the 
In the course of trial the purchaser of ghee wanted warrantor to be discharged so that he can be examined as a defence witness to prove his own purchase of the offending article
This application was granted and the warrantor was acquitted
After the acquittal of the warrantor the learned Magistrate impleaded the manufacturer Mr Gauri Shanker Prem Narain under section 20 A of the 
An appeal was preferred by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi against the acquittal of the warrantor and the other accused
The High Court maintained the acquittal of Lakshmi Narain but set aside the acquittal of warrantor
That is how the matter came up to this Court
We fail to see how this decision can at all help the respondent in this case
However reliance was placed on one observation in the concurring judgment of Alagiriswami J which reads as under 845 It would be noticed that while the charge states that the sample of ghee purchased from Lakshmi Narain was found to be adulterated there is no allegation that the ghee sold by the appellant to Lakshmi Narain was adulterated
While it may be readily conceded that the common object or common intention or unity of purpose between the manufacturer the distributor and the vendor was to sell the article of food sold it is not said that it was to sell the adulterated article of food
 At a later stage it is observed that the validity of the charge has to be decided on the facts put forward as the prosecution case
If it is not established against anyone of them that the article of food manufacture distributed or sold by him was adulterated that person will be acquitted not because the charge was not valid or was defective but because there was no proof to substantiate the charge
But without that allegation there cannot be said to be a unity of purpose or common object or common intention on the part of all of them who manufacture distribute or sell the adulterated food  It was further observed that the manufacture distribution and sale of adulterated ghee would be the same transaction if it was found to be adulterated at all the three stages
Otherwise it only means that they were all same transaction only in the sense that the common object of all of them is the selling of the ghee
 How the extracted observation in any way helps the respondent passes comprehension
Firstly the question of jurisdiction of the court trying the offender was never raised in that case
And here the respondent was discharged on the ground of want of jurisdiction
Secondly the decision proceeded on the facts of the case as would be evident from the extracted passage which recites the charge
That aspect does not figure in this case
Let it be made clear that no affidavit was filed on behalf of the respondent in this Court nor the complaint was read over to us
And the case proceeds on the averments not presently disputed
Therefore in this case we are left with the allegations as found in the judgment of the High Court and the learned Additional Sessions Judge and it clearly establishes that where the marketing agent of the manufacturer of fertiliser which is found to be sub standard is being prosecuted for marketing sub standard fertiliser the manufacturer can be tried with him and the court where the substandard fertiliser was marketed will have jurisdiction to try them both
846 Therefore the High Court was in error in setting aside the order of the learned Additional Sessions Judge
This was the only point in this appeal and as it clearly transpired that the High Court was in error in interfering with the order of the learned Additional Sessions Judge this appeal is allowed and the judgment of the High Court is quashed and set aside and the judgment of the learned Additional Sessions Judge is restored
SR Appeal allowed


Summary:
The respondent was carrying on business of manufacturing fertilizers at Ludhiana under the name and style of Messrs Varinder Agro Chemicals India and marketed his product through his agent Messrs Sachdeva Enterprises Kapurthala
On finding the sample collected by a Fertilizer Inspector from the said agent on December 12 1978 to be of sub standard quality the Chief Agricultural officer Kapurthala filed a criminal complaint being CC No 156 C of 1980 on December 24 1980 in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Kapurthala against the two partners of Messrs Sachdeva Enterprises and the Respondent under section 13A of the read with section 131 a of the Fertilizers Control order 1957
On July 20 1981 respondent moved an application before the trial court praying that he be discharged and the proceedings be dropped against him on the ground that the Kapurthala Court had no territorial jurisdiction to try him because he carried on business of manufacture of fertilizers at Ludhiana
Relying no the decision of the Gujarat High Court in State of Gujarat vs Agro Chemicals etc
1980 Cr L J p 516 the Learned Chief Judicial Magistrate discharged the respondent and dropped the proceedings against him
The Criminal Revn
Application No 48 of 1981 filed by the State of Punjab was allowed by the Additional Sessions Judge Kapurthala holding that in view of the provisions of Section 180 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the Kapurthala Court had jurisdiction to try the Respondent along with the other co accused
Thereupon the respondent preferred a revision petition being Crl
No in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana
A learned Single Judge of the High Court relying on the decision of that Court in Satinder Singh and Ors
vs State af Punjab Crl
Appln
No 1158 M1981 dated 24 2 1982 which accepted the view taken by the Gujarat High Court allowed the revision petition and set aside the decision of the Additional Sessions Judge
Hence the State Appeal by Special Leave of the Court
Allowing the appeal the Court 840  HELD 1
The Court in whose jurisdiction sub standard fertilizer was found to be marketed will have the jurisdiction to try manufacturer of sub standard fertilizer even if the manufacturing activity is at an entirely different place
The manufacturer as well as the dealer can be tried at a place where the consequences of the manufacturing and selling of sub standard fertilizer had ensued as envisaged in sections 179 and 180 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
in 1 2
Now if manufacturing sub standard fertilizer is by itself an offence and marketing the sub standard fertilizer is itself a distinct offence but they are so inter connected as cause and effect both can be tried at one or the other place
If one manufacturers the sub standard fertilizer wherever it is marketed the inter relation or casual connection is of cause and effect
The situation will be adequately covered by sections 179 and 180 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
843G H Incharge Production Haryana State Coopt
Supply And Marketing Federation Ltd HAFED Fertilizer vs State of Punjab Crl
No 6763 M of 1982 decided by the High Court on 9 3 1983 approved
Where a sample of fertilizer is taken from a bag which was in the same condition as delivered by the manufacturer and it was in possession of a marketing agent manufacture and sale of sub standard fertilizer would constitute indisputably one transaction
But this is predicated upon the facts which may be disclosed in the trial and proved
844D E Bhagwan Das Jagdish Chander vs Delhi Administration 1975 Supp
SCR 30 distinguished