IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.5404 of 2009 1. Ajay Yadav @ Ajay Kumar, son of Sri Manu Yadav, Resident of village- Imalliachak, P.S. Rampur, District-Gaya. 2. Kedar Prasad, son of Haridwar Sao, Resident of village-Wasilpur, P.S. and District-Arwal. -Petitioners. VERSUS 1. The State of Bihar. 2. The Block Co-operative Extension Officer, Arwal. -Respondents. ----------- 03 29.04.2009 Petitioner no. 1 is the owner of public carrier truck bearing No. BR-16G-8922 and petitioner no. 2 is the owner of the 626 bags of paddy, which have been seized in connection with Arwal P.S. Case No. 7 of 2009 on 19.02.2009 in a case instituted under Sections 402, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. On a plain reading of the first information report, all that is alleged is that these bags some of which were loaded on the truck and some in the godown of petitioner no. 2 contained paddy and were packed bags of Food Corporation of India (F.C.I.) marking. It is alleged that the memo supports the particulars of paddy, which is payable by the government is Rs. 200/- higher than the market price. It is, therefore, suspected that F.C.I. paddy is being misappropriated by the petitioners for gains. Undisputedly, there is no allegation of any F.I.R. or any report by F.C.I. with regard to any of its stocks missing. By this writ petition the petitioners prayed for release of their truck and paddy both of which are likely to deteriorate in time. There is no dispute of ownership. 2 Mr. N.K. Agrawal, learned Senior Counsel appearing in support of the writ petition states that so far as paddy is concerned, it is not a controlled commodity, inasmuch as, neither there is any storage restriction nor any movement restriction nor any licence is required in respect thereof, and it is because of that and having knowledge of that the informant Block Co-operative Extension Officer, Arwal had made no allegation about the violation of Essential Commodities Act, but on a mere suspicion seized the commodities and instituted the case. It is submitted that the Block Co-operative Extension Officer had absolutely no authority in law and under any law to make such a seizure. The Truck and paddy are lying at the Arwal Police Station and if they are not released to the petitioners both would deteriorate. Having heard the parties, in my view, on the materials available on record, this Court has grave doubts that whether any offence at all is made out. F.C.I. brings rice from other State for distribute in this State under Public Distribution System, the bags with rice therein are delivered to dealers, these empty bags are then sold by dealers to agriculturists for packing their produce. Thus, prima facie, mere, because of bags with F.C.I. marking does not mean that the bags and its contents belong to F.C.I. F.C.I. is not complaining of any of its stocks of paddy going a miss. In that view of the matter, I direct that on furnishing sufficient security to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jehanabad the seized truck and paddy shall be released to the petitioners respectively on proper identification, subject to the result of the criminal 3 case. Observations made above are tentative and for the purposes of this writ petition alone. They will not prejudice the investigation in any manner which would be conducted on its own. Let the order of this Court be communicated to the Court concerned at the cost of the petitioner. With these observations, the writ petition itself disposed of. Trivedi/ (Navaniti Prasad Singh, J.)