IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Crl.Revision No. 1190 of 2009 Date of Decision:June 05, 2009 Nirmal Singh alias Nimma ..........Petitioner Versus State of Punjab ..........Respondent Coram: Hon'ble Mrs. Justice Sabina Present: Mr.T.P.S.Tung, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr.K.S.Pannu, Deputy Advocate General,Punjab ** Sabina, J. Petitioner was convicted under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1980 (`the Act' for short) vide judgment dated 5.3.2007 by the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Ludhiana. Vide order of even date, petitioner was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay a fine of Rs.1000/-. Aggrieved by the same, petitioner preferred an appeal and the same was disposed of with the modification that the sentence of the petitioner was reduced from one year to six months and the sentence of fine will remain the same by the Additional Sessions Judge, (Adhoc) Fast Track Court, Ludhiana vide judgment dated 24.4.2009. Hence, the present revision petition. The brief facts of the case, as noticed by the Appellate Court in para 2 of its judgment, are as under:- Crl.Revision No. 1190 of 2009 -2- “Briefly stated, the facts of the present case are that on 27.10.02, SI Dogar Ram, SHO along with other police officials was present at Partapgarh chowk, in connection with Nakabandi. A secret information was received by the SHO to the effect that accused Nirmal Singh had procured kerosene oil in large quantity at a low rate and that he was selling the same without any permit or licence. If a raid was conducted, he could be apprehended with large quantity of kerosene oil. Since the information was reliable, he recorded the facts in ruqa Ex.PB and sent it to the Police Station for registration of the case where on its basis a formal FIR Ex.PC was registered against the accused. Since the place of recovery fell in the jurisdiction of Police Station Division No.6, Ludhiana. Information to this effect was given to Inspector Wazir Singh of telephone. He was also requested to reach at the spot. This information was also given to the Food and Supply department. Wazir Singh Inspector along with other police officials reached at Partapgarh Chowk. Inspector Jawahar Lal of Food and Supply Department also came there. Thereafter, the police party reached the house of Nirmal Singh and on seeing the police party, he ran away from the courtyard of his house. Two drum of kerosene oil of blue colour were recovered. Kerosene oil was measured and 180 litres of kerosene oil was found in each of the drum. Three bottles of 750/750 litres of kerosene oil were separated from each of the drums and the drums and bottles were sealed by Inspector Wazir Singh with his seal bearing impression Crl.Revision No. 1190 of 2009 -3- WS. Inspector Jawahar Lal also put his signatures on the bottles and the drums. The seal was handed over by Inspector Wazir Singh to Inspector Jawahar Lal. Thereafter these were taken into possession vide recovery memo by Inspector Wazir Singh and the PWs had also signed on this memo. The I.O. Prepared a rough site plan with correct marginal notes. He recorded the statement of PWs and arrested the accused. The samples were sent to FSL whose report Ex.PA brought out the result that the sample contained kerosene oil of blue colour. After completion of investigation, accused was challenged and sent up for trial.” On 8.5.2009, the following order was passed by this Court:- “After addressing arguments for some time, the counsel for the petitioner prays that he does not press the present petition on merits. He, however, prays that notice be issued on the question of sentence. Notice of motion regarding sentence only for 28.5.2009.” Learned counsel for the petitioner did not press the petition on merits and notice was issued only with regard to quantity of sentence by this Court on 8.5.2009. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner is not a previous convict and was not apprehended at the spot. The petitioner has undergone about one and a half months of actual sentence. Keeping in view the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner, it is a fit case where the sentence qua imprisonment of petitioner is liable to be reduced to already undergone by Crl.Revision No. 1190 of 2009 -4- him. Accordingly, the conviction of the petitioner under Section 7 of the Act is maintained. However, his sentence qua imprisonment is reduced to already undergone by him. This petition is disposed of accordingly. ( Sabina ) Judge June 05, 2009 arya