Kailash Pateria vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh
2021 Latest Caselaw 6893 MP

                                                                          1                               WP-21186-2021
                                               The High Court Of Madhya Pradesh
                                                          WP-21186-2021
                                                   (KAILASH PATERIA Vs THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS)

                                       1
                                       Jabalpur, Dated : 27-10-2021
                                             None for the petitioner.
                                             Shri V.K. Shukla, learned Panel Lawyer for the respondents/State.

The petitioner has filed this petition seeking quashing of FIR registered at Crime No.0271/2021 by Police Station Badamalahra, District Chhatarpur for the offence under section 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act on the

ground that the action of respondents in lodging FIR is contrary to the provisions as contained in Clause-16 of the M.P. Public Distribution System (Control Order), 2015 and, therefore, act of the respondents in lodging FIR is illegal and contrary.

Petitioner's main contention as raised in the writ petition is that the act of lodging of FIR/Institution of criminal prosecution amounts to a penalty and, therefore, the same cannot be imposed without affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner in terms of the provisions as contained in M.P. Public Distribution System (Control Order), 2015 for which he has placed

reliance on a judgment of Coordinate Bench of this Court in W.P. No.19253/2015 (Madan Gopal Pandey Vs. State of M.P. and Others) decided on 15.02.2016.

However, fact of the matter is that the penalties and punishment have been mentioned in the Control Order, therefore, lodging of FIR cannot be constituted to be a penalty. FIR can always be lodged if a cognizable offence is prima facie made out against the accused.

In the present case, it is not the case of the petitioner that no prima facie case for commission of a cognizable offence is made out against the petitioner and, therefore, in absence of any ground of malafides, there being no material on record to substantiate quashing of the FIR in terms of the law Signature Not Verified SAN laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of State of Haryana Vs.

Digitally signed by MOHD TABISH KHAN Date: 2021.10.28 18:10:06 IST 2 WP-21186-2021 Bhajan Lal & Others (1992 Supp (1) SCC, 335) Accordingly, this petition fails and is dismissed.

(VIVEK AGARWAL) JUDGE

Tabish

Signature Not Verified SAN

Digitally signed by MOHD TABISH KHAN Date: 2021.10.28 18:10:06 IST