Criminal Appeal (SJ) No. 351 OF 1994 In the matter of an appeal under Section 374 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. ************ 1. Ram Narain Sah, S/o Late Bhagwat Sah. 2. Sitaram Sah, S/o Late Bhagwat Sah. 3. Mahendra Prasad Mahto, S/o Ram Bhadur Mahto. R/o Village-Khairwa, P.S.-Bela, District-Sitamarhi. ……………..(Appellants) Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR------(Respondent) ************ For the Appellants : Mr. N.K. Agarwal, Adv. For the State : Mr. Choubey Jawahar, APP. ************ P R E S E N T THE HON'BLE JUSTICE SMT. ANJANA PRAKASH ************* Anjana Prakash, J. The appellants have been convicted under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act and sentenced to six months RI and a fine of Rs. 1,000/- in default of which further imprisonment of two months by judgment dated 29.09.1994 passed by Special Judge, Sitamarhi in G.R. Case No. 483 of 1989 (Tr. No. 26 of 1994). The prosecution case is that on 14.06.1989 a bus was intercepted by P.W. 6, the informant and on it 30 litres of diesel were found stored. The appellant No. 2 showed two permits with regard to it issued in the name of the appellant No. 1. It was their case that the diesel was being carried for personal use in pumping set but it was disbelieved since no diesel pumping set was found in the house of the appellant No. 2. The prosecution examined six witnesses on its behalf out of whom P.W. 1 is the Block Development Officer, P.W. 2 is the Panchayat Sevak, P.W. 3 and 5 are the seizure witnesses, P.W. 4 is the ASI, P.W. 6 is the Investigating Officer. On behalf of the defence four witnesses were examined to substantiate the fact that diesel was being carried for pumping set. The argument of the counsel for the appellants is that the storage limit of diesel was four hundred litres and on account of recovery of only thirty litres of diesel the appellants’ conviction under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act is completely unwarranted. Accepting the said argument, this appeal is allowed and the judgment dated 29.09.1994 passed by Special Judge, Sitamarhi in G.R. Case No. 483 of 1989 (Tr. No. 26 of 1994) is set aside. The appellants are discharged of the liability of their bail bonds. The appeal stands allowed. (Anjana Prakash, J.) Patna High Court, Patna, Dated, the 4th April, 2011. NAFR/Vikash/-