1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, APPELLATE SIDE NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR CRIMINAL APPLICATION (ABA) NO. 228 OF 2011 ( Anil Ranganathrao Ambulkar Vs. State of Maharashtra PSO PS Balapur) ........................................................................................................................................................................ Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court orders or directions Court's or Judge's Order and Registrar's orders ........................................................................................................................................................................ Shri S. V. Sirpurkar Adv for applicant. Shri N. R. Rode APP for non applicant/State. CORAM: M. N. GILANI J. DATED: 6th JULY, 2011. . The applicant who is arrayed as the accused in Crime No. 3013 of 2011 registered at Police Station Balapur for the offence punishable under Sections 3 and 7 of Essential Commodities Act is seeking direction under Section 438 of Code of Criminal Procedure for his release on bail in the event of his arrest in the said crime. Food & Civil Supplies Department, Government of Maharashtra has its godown at Balapur district Akola. There are ration shops in this region. Food-grains which are meant for 2 supplying to the persons below poverty line are distributed from this Government Godown. In turn the food grains are distributed to the persons holding BPL card under the Scheme covered by Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001. The applicant is posted at godown at Balapur and his duty is to give delivery of food-grains by making the entries in the Permit Register. One Mr. Pawar who is Tahsildar, Balapur Tahsil was monitoring the distribution of food-grains and was aware of the shortage of rice. On 07.02.2011 he received statement from the applicant about the delivery of rice to the permit holders. In order to verify this, on 08.02.20112 i.e. on the next day he along with Supply Inspector Shri Sawdekar visited the shop of Zamiroddin at village Paras. It was noticed that the rice bags weighing 44.50 quintals which were shown as supplied to said Zamiroddin as per the statement dated 07.02.2011, were not found in his shop. On enquiry the said Zamiroddin gave evasive replies. In turn an enquiry was made with the applicant. It was noticed that in the Permit Register the entries were scored out by using whitener and a note has been made “For want of conveyance food-grains were not lifted”. Investigation reveals that the statement showing delivery of 44.50 quintals of rice to Zamiroddin was already issued and the original statement did not show the note like “the food-grains were 3 not lifted or delivery of food-grains was not taken for want of conveyance”. Subsequently, and after the applicant came to know that the Tahsildar had visited the shop of Zamiroddin entries have been manipulated. The investigation also shows that on 09.02.2011 the applicant managed to bring back 44.50 quintals of rice in the godown. Learned counsel for the applicant contended that applicant is a Government Servant. His arrest would be a stigma to his service record which would adversely affect his career. Zamiroddin has been granted anticipatory bail by the learned Additional Sessions Judge Akola. His case is better placed than the said Zamiroddin and therefore the direction under Section 438 may be issued. Perusal of the Case Diary which is made available to this Court by the learned APP clearly points out that in the Permit Register entry was made showing delivery of 44.50 quintals of rice to Zamiroddin. Before proceeding to inspect the shop of Zamiroddin the Tahsildar had already obtained the Statements of delivery of food-grains. On that very basis Zamiroddin was questioned about 44.50 quintals of rice. In order to account for 44.40 quintals of rice, an attempt was made to manipulate the record. 4 It is the contention of the learned counsel that the rice was very much in the godown and was never removed and therefore, the applicant cannot be blamed. However investigation reveals that on 09.02.2011 godown was checked and said quantity of rice was not found. It is further alleged that thereafter, accused managed to bring back the said quantity of rice in the godown which was found there by the police on 10.02.2011. The allegations are not based merely on the ground that Zamiroddin could not account for the said quantity of rice but it was found that relevant entries in the Permit Register were manipulated, which was in the custody of the applicant. Not only the applicant appears to be involved in the violation of the provisions of Public Distribution System (Control) Order 2001, but there is reason to believe that he forged the Government record i.e. Permit Register. Considering the nature of the accusation it would not be desirable to issue directions under Section 438 of Criminal Procedure Code. In my view the fact that learned Additional Sessions Judge proceeded to use his discretion in favour of the shop keeper Zamiroddin would not entitle the present applicant to seek similar treatment from this Court. Application is rejected. 5 It is made clear that observations made while disposing of the bail application shall be deemed to have been made only for the purposes of deciding this application. It is expected that any application coming for decision before the learned trial Court or before the Sessions Judge shall be decided without being influenced by any of the observations made in this order. JUDGE svk 6