Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Malay Kumar Hazra vs State Of West Bengal on 27 September, 2022
Form J(1) IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
Criminal Revisional Jurisdiction
Appellate Side
Present :
The Hon'ble Justice Bibek Chaudhuri
CRR 1736 of 2022
Malay Kumar Hazra
Vs.
State of West Bengal
Mr. Arindam Jana
Mr. Panchanan Hajra
...for the petitioner
Mr. Ranabir Roy Chowdhury
Mr. Sandip Chakraborty
..for the State
Item No.28
Heard & Judgment on: 27.09.2022
Bibek Chaudhuri, J.
On the basis of a suo motu complaint filed by a police officer
attached to Goghat Police Station, FIR No.93 of 2022 dated 13 th April,
2022 was registered against one Abhijit Ghosh, driver of a six wheeler
truck bearing Registration No.67B-3561. In the FIR it is alleged that
the complainant along with other officers of the force were conducting
'naka' duty with the jurisdiction of police station and in course of their
duty on 13th April, 2022 they detained one six wheeler truck bearing
Registration No.67B-3561 loaded with river bed sand at about 8.05
p.m. The complainant asked the driver to produce valid documents in
respect of transportation of river bed sand. He produced the road
e-challan of the river bed sand which was found to have expired at
the time of seizure.
It is submitted by the learned advocate for the petitioner
drawing my attention to the documents annexed with the
supplementary affidavit that the road e-challan for river bed sand was
actually issued in favour of the petitioner and was valid till 13 th April,
2022 up to 8.32 A.M. However, there was some mechanical difficulty
found in the said truck after loading river bed sand. The truck was
repaired in a local garage and after repairing, the driver was driving
the truck at night when it was intercepted.
It is further submitted on behalf of petitioner that the learned
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Arambagh, Hooghly rejected the
prayer of the petitioner for return of the seized truck on the ground
that the learned Magistrate was not competent to take cognizance of
offence under Section 4(1)(A) of the Mines and Minerals
(Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. As per provision of the said
Act only the Special Court can take cognizance of the offence under
the said Act and, accordingly, the Special Court has the exclusive
power to dispose of seized vehicle.
It is submitted on behalf of the petitioner that since charge
sheet has not been submitted in the said case, the learned Magistrate
was authorized to pass any order releasing the vehicle. Moreover, the
Investigating Officer has submitted a report stating his 'no objection'
if the seized truck was released in favour of the petitoner.
It is important to note here that Section 21(4A) of Mines and
Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 states that any
mineral, tool, equipment, vehicle or any other thing seized under sub-
Section (4) shall be liable to be confiscated by an order of the Court
competent to take cognizance of the offence under sub-section (1)
and shall be disposed of in accordance with the directions of such
Court.
At this stage, learned P.P.-in-charge submits that when the
Investigating Officer has endorsed 'no objection' if the seized truck
was returned to the petitioner, the said vehicle may be returned to its
registered owner on his executing a bond with further directions that
he will produce the seized vehicle as and when call for by the learned
Special Court at the time of trial and must submit seized truck if at all
any confiscation proceeding is initiated by the trial Court.
In view of such submission, the impugned order dated 10 th May,
2022 is set aside. The seized truck be returned to the petitioner on his
executing a bond of Rs.15 lakhs with further condition that he will not
change nature and character of the vehicle during the pendency of
G.R. Case No.402 of 2022 and also will not create any third party
interest over the said vehicle and produce the vehicle as and when
call for by the learned Special Judge during trial. The petitioner is
further directed to produce the seized vehicle before the learned
Special Judge if any confiscation proceeding is initiated in connection
with G.R. Case No.402 of 2022 by the trial Court.
With the above order, the instant revision is disposed of.
(Bibek Chaudhuri, J.)
