Criminal Revision No.1184 of 2000 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl.Revision No.1184 of 2000 Date of Decision: 07.05.2010 Gurtej Singh ........Petitioner Versus State of Punjab .......Respondent And Crl.Revision No.1183 of 2000 Krishan Lal and Another ........Petitioners Versus State of Punjab .......Respondent CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.N.JINDAL Present: Mr. Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. C.S.Brar, D.A.G., Punjab. ****** A.N.JINDAL, J. (ORAL) Vide this order, both the revision petitions would be disposed of. These petitions have been preferred against the dismissal of their appeals against the judgment dated 10.12.1999, passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mansa whereby they were convicted & sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 1 ½ years each for an offence under Section 11(1) of Punjab Regulation of Colonies Act, 1975. Nothing has been argued by the learned counsel for the petitioners qua the question of conviction. Having gone through the records of the case, the sale deeds placed on record reveal that at least 25 sales were effected by the joint Criminal Revision No.1184 of 2000 -2- owners of the property. In violation of Section 11(i) of the Punjab Regulation of Colonies Act, 1975, they sold the land in question to different persons unauthorizedly without providing amenities to the residents thereby turning the area to slum. The unauthorized sale of property is a continuing offence, therefore, the question of prosecution being time barred does not arise. As such the findings recording conviction of the accused by the two Courts below do not warrant interference. Now coming to the quantum of sentence, it may be observed in that the occurrence in this case took place way back in the year 1986- 1989. The accused Krishan Lal was 58 years old at the time of effecting the sales transactions and now he must be 80 years and in the evening of his life. Similarly, Gurtej Singh was 45 years old and Subhash Chander was about 34 years old at that time and now they would also be quite old and having children and grand children. They have already suffered a lot due to longevity of the trial. They have already undergone about more than two months of the substantive sentence. It has also been argued by counsel for the petitioners that this colony had also been regularized by the government later on and the government had also not proceeded to declare the same as illegal and unauthorized colony and did not take any steps to dismantle the same. The residents are residing in the houses peacefully and amicably. Thus in these peculiar circumstances of the case, it would not be in the fitness of things to send him back to prison. For the aforesaid reasons, the petitions are dismissed with the modification in the sentence to that of already undergone. However, the sentence of fine is enhanced to Rs.10,000/- each. The copy of judgment is sent to Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mansa for compliance. May 7, 2010 (A.N.JINDAL) Gagan JUDGE