Case: Janardan Vs. State Of Maharashtra

The appellant along with others was convicted under section 4 of the Gambling Act and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for two months and a fine of Rs. 400/- or in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one month. He was also convicted under section 5 of the Gambling Act and sentenced to 7 days rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 501/-. 16 accused besides the appellant were convicted but the appellant alone filed a revision before the High Court and an appeal to this Court by obtaining a certificate from the Highfacts of the case are not in dispute and counsel for the appellant has not raised any question relating to the merits of the case. In fact, all the three courts have concurrently found that the offence against the app ellant has been established beyond any doubt and in view of the concurrent finding of facts by the courts below there is no question of arguing the case onof the important points of, law which was urged before the High Court as also before this Court was that the search warrant issued by the Assistant Commissioner which formed the basis of the conviction of the appellant was legally invalid, and, therefore, the conviction was not sustainable in law. It was also argued before the High Court that the search warrant did not contain a full and complete description of the hut where the game was being played but the High Court has rightly repelled this contention on the ground that the search warrant contained full description of the place and this finding was not assailed before us also.Thus, the entire. case turns upon the validity of the search warrant Issued by the Assistant Commissioner. In this connection, it was submitted before us that under section 6 of the Gambling Act it was lawful for the Commissioner of Police to issue a search warrant but in the instant case admittedly the search warrant was not issued by the Commissioner of Police but by the Assistant Commissioner. It was contended that as the Commissioner of Police has not been defined in the Gambling Act so as to include an Assistant Commissioner any warrant issued by the Assistant Commissioner were legally invalid and could not be acted upon. The High Court appears to have met this argument on the ground that under the provisions of the Police Act the term Commissioner of Police? includes an Assistant Commissioner, and, therefore, the provisions of section 6 of the Gambling Act were fully complied with inasmuch as the, word Commissioner of Police? would include, an .Assistant Commissioner also.

Reasoning: I am however unable to agree with this contention which completely overlooks the avowed object of section 17 of the General Clauses Act which has been passed to resolve such anomalies and it is not possible to construe the provisions of the police Act in complete isolation by ignoring the provisions of the General Clauses Act which undoubtedly apply to the facts and circumstances of the present case. For these reasons, therefore, the second contention put. forward by the appellant also fails.I am, therefore, satisfied that the conviction of the appellant does not suffer from any infirmity but having regard to the fact that the offence took place more than 10 years herein before I feel that the interests of justice do not require that the appellant should be sent back to jail. I would, therefore, while upholding the conviction of the appellant under sections 4 and 5 of the Gambling Act reduce the sentence of imprisonment to the period already served maintains the sentence of fine awarded under both the counts, namely, sections 4 and 5 of the Gambing Act.