Bombay High Court
Azhar Khan S/O. Mazhar Khan vs The State Of Maharashtra Thr. ... on 2 March, 2021
Bench: S.B. Shukre, Avinash G. Gharote
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1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH AT NAGPUR
CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. 938/2018
PETITIONER : Azhar Khan s/o Mazhar Khan,
aged about 32 years, Occ. Business,
R/o. Pathanpura, Ner (Parsopant),
District Yavatmal
...VERSUS...
RESPONDENTS: 1. The State of Maharashtra,
through Additional Chief Secretary,
Home Department, Mantralaya,
Mumbai-32.
2. The Superintendent of Police,
Yavatmal.
3. The Station Officer,
Police Station Ner (Parsopant),
District Yavatmal.
4. Umesh S/o Shankarrao Nasre,
aged about 32 years, Occ. Service,
Police Sub-Inspector,
c/o. Local Crime Branch, Yavatmal City,
Yavatmal having office at Police Station
Yavatmal City, Yavatmal
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Shri F.T.Mirza, Advocate for petitioner
Shri N.R.Patil, APP for respondent nos.1 to 4
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CORAM : SUNIL B. SHUKRE AND
AVINASH G. GHAROTE, JJ.
DATE : 02/03/2021.
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ORAL JUDGMENT (PER : SUNIL B. SHUKRE, J.)
1] Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by
consent of the learned Counsel for the parties.
2] At the outset, we must place it on record that Shri
F.T.Mirza, learned counsel for the petitioner, on instructions, does
not press the prayers made in clauses (c), (d) and (e) of the prayer
clause, in view of the admission given in paragraph No. 7 of the
reply filed by Respondent No. 3 - Sub Divisional Police Officer,
Darwha, District Yavatmal, that the petitioner has not made any
violation of Kerosene Order under the Essential Commodities Act.
3] Once the respondents have placed it on record in no
uncertain terms that the petitioner has not made any violation of
Kerosene Order under the Essential Commodities Act, the
Investigating Officer would forfeit any of his rights to carry out the
investigation on the premise that some complaint has been filed
wherein there is an allegation of commission of offence punishable
under Section 7 r/w Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act. In
fact, by three orders passed on different dates, the dates of
10.04.2019, 02.03.2020 and 06.01.2021, we have placed on record
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the glaring deficiencies in the whole investigation started in this
case by the respondents and the unwarranted vanity shown by the
Investigating Officer. But we did not then pass any final order
thinking that there would be some material still which would be
placed on record by the Investigating Officer and which would in the
ultimate analysis convince us about the incorrectness of the
observations made by us in these three orders. But, the position that
has emerged today is otherwise, rather the position is that there is
no change in the facts brought on record by our said three orders.
4] Today, Shri Udaysinha Mahavirsinha Chandel, Sub
Divisional Police Officer, Darwha, is personally present before the
Court. He submits, on being duly authorized by the Superintendent
of Police, Yavatmal, that there is an opinion given by the Supply
Officer to the effect that no violation has been committed by the
petitioner vis-a-vis the Essential Commodities Act. Then, he also
submits that the stock of kerosene which was found at the spot on
the date of the incident was within the maximum holding capacity
of the petitioner under the Kerosene license granted to him. He also
does not dispute the correctness of the facts brought on record vide
our orders dated 10.04.2019, 02.03.2020 and 06.01.2021.
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5] If this is the position, we see no warrant in
continuation of the investigation for the alleged violation of Section
3 r/w Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act against the
petitioner. We find that there is no material available on record
which would show commission of any offence punishable under the
said provision of the Essential Commodities Act.
6] In the result, this petition deserves to be allowed in so
far as it relates to prayer regarding quashing and setting aside of the
impugned F.I.R. The petition is accordingly allowed. The impugned
F.I.R. No. 0393/2018 registered at Police Station Ner (Parsopant),
District Yavatmal, on 02.09.2018 for the offence punishable under
Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, is hereby quashed
and set aside.
7] Rule is made absolute in above terms. No order as to
costs.
JUDGE JUDGE
Rvjalit
