Crl. Revision No. 703 of 2011 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Revision No. 703 of 2011 (O&M) Date of Decision : March 25, 2011 Jarnail Singh alias Jaila ...... Petitioner Versus State of Punjab ...... Respondent **** CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ALOK SINGH 1. Whether reporters of local news papers may be allowed to see judgment ? 2. To be referred to reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? Present : Mr. Harpreet S. Rakhra, Advocate, for the petitioner. **** Alok Singh, J (Oral) Jarnail Singh-petitioner has filed the present revision petition challenging judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 30.3.2006, passed by the Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Hoshiarpur, whereby the ac- cused petitioner was convicted under Section 61(i)(c) of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914 and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- as well as against judgment dated 11.6.2008, passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court, Hoshiarpur, by vir- tue of which the appeal filed against the conviction and sentence was dis- missed. Crl. Revision No. 703 of 2011 (O&M) 2 Alongwith the petition an application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act for condonation of delay of 954 days in filing the revision petition has been filed. It is pleaded in the application that due to confusion the petitioner could not prefer the revision petition against the impugned judgment dated 11.6.2008, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, and in this manner the delay has occurred which is not intentional. The facts in detail are not required to be noticed in this judg- ment as the same have been fully recapitulated in the judgments passed by the Courts below. As per the case of the prosecution, on the basis of a secret information the police party conducted a raid and the drum containing 100 kgs of illicit liquor was found lying there. Besides other materials for pre- paring illicit liquor was taken into possession by the police. After complet- ing the formalities the accused was arrested, statements of the witnesses were recorded, case property with sealed impression was deposited with the police; samples were sent to chemical examiner and on receipt of the report from the chemical examiner that the samples were of illicit liquor and after completion of the investigation challan was presented against the accused. Accused petitioner was charge sheeted for offence under Sec- tion 61(i)(c) of the Excise Act to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. The prosecution examined three witnesses and after closure of the prosecution evidence statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was recorded, wherein he has denied all the prosecution allegations, however, he did not adduce any defence evidence. After hearing the learned public prosecutor for the State, learned counsel for the accused-petitioner and after having gone through the record, the learned trial Court convicted and sentenced the petitioner as indicated above. The appeal preferred against the said judgment was also dismissed by the Addi- tional Sessions Judge, Hoshiarpur. Not satisfied with the said impugned Crl. Revision No. 703 of 2011 (O&M) 3 judgments, the petitioner has knocked the door of this Court by way of pres- ent revision petition alongwith an application under Section 5 of the Limita- tion Act for condonation of delay. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and have also gone through the records. Admittedly, the impugned judgment was passed by the Addi- tional Sessions Judge on 11.6.2008 and the present revision petition was filed on 24.3.2011 and in this manner delay of 954 days has occurred. The ground taken by the petitioner for condonation of delay that due to confu- sion or inadvertence he could not prefer the revision against the impugned order till 17.2.2011 when the sentence of petitioner was suspended in NDPS Act by this Hon’ble Court is not plausible. Ignorance of law is no ground to condone the delay. It is a well settled principle of law that each day’s delay has to be explained. Even otherwise also if he could not file the present revi- sion petition due to inadvertence until 17.2.2011 why he has filed the pres- ent revision petition on 24.3.2011 and why he has waited again for more than one month for filing the revision petition. It appears that the petitioner has treated the present petition in a very casual manner and slept over the matter like a Khumbhakaran slumber and in this manner delay of 954 days has occurred which has not been properly explained. Learned counsel for the petitioner has failed to show any rea- sonable cause for condonation of delay in filing the present revision petition and as such the present revision petition is liable to be dismissed on the ground of limitation. Even otherwise on merits also, after going through the record I find that both the Courts below have properly appreciated the evi- dence available on the record and have rightly came to the conclusion that there is sufficient material on the record to prove the guilt of the accused. Learned counsel for the petitioner has not been able to point out any illegal- Crl. Revision No. 703 of 2011 (O&M) 4 ity or infirmity either in the procedure or in the conduct of the trial. As such, there is no justification for this Court to interfere in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction. In the revisional jurisdiction, this Court ordinarily should not re-appreciate the evidence to reach the findings different from the Courts below. In the absence of any manifest illegality resulting in grave miscar- riage of justice, exercise of revisional jurisdiction in such cases is not war- ranted. As the petitioner has failed to show any reasonable or sufficient cause for condonation of delay, therefore, there is no merit in the applica- tion for condonation of delay and as such the same is hereby dismissed. As a consequence thereof, the present petition is dismissed being time barred as well as on merits. (Alok Singh) Judge March 25, 2011 Anand