Rajasthan High Court
Ram Singh Palsaniya Son Of Shri ... vs State Of Rajasthan on 12 July, 2022
Bench: Birendra Kumar
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 212/2022
Ram Singh Palsaniya Son Of Shri Mohan Lal, Aged About 44
Years, Resident Of Dhani Mewakawali, Near Sadhna Petrol Pump
Nh-8, Byepass Tan Shahpura, Police Station Shahpura District
Jaipur.
----Petitioner
Versus
State Of Rajasthan, Through The P.P.
----Respondent
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. J.S. Rathore, Adv. with
Mr. Shivam, Adv.
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Chandragupt Chopra, Dy.
Government Advocate
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE BIRENDRA KUMAR
Order
12/07/2022
19500 Liters of Biodiesel was seized by the Police from three
different premises belonging to the petitioner. By the impugned
order dated 27.12.2021 passed by the District Collector, Jaipur in
Case No.09/2021 in exercise of power under Section 6A of the
E.C. Act. The Collector directed confiscation of the bio-diesel. The
said order was challenged in Criminal Appeal No.01/2022 before
the learned Sessions Judge and by judgment dated 16.03.2022,
the order of the Collector was upheld. Both the orders are under
challenge herein. The Collector was of the view that it was petrol /
diesel and its storage above a certain limit was not permissible.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Collector
has misunderstood that biodiesel is a petroleum product as such
the entire order suffers from error of law. The Lower Appellate
(2 of 3) [CRLW-212/2022]
Court also did not appreciate that biodiesel is not a petroleum
product, hence affirmation of wrong order is also bad in law.
Learned counsel has relied on the statement of Bureau of
Indian Standards which defines bio-diesel as follows:-
"Fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain
fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal
fats, designated B100. The term 'Biodiesel' refers to
mono alkyl methyl esters of vegetable oils like
rapeseed, soya bean, sunflower, jatropha curcas,
karanja, palm stearin, etc, used cooking oils, waste
vegetable oils, by-products of edible oil manufacture
like free fatty acids, stearin, etc, and other fats."
Learned counsel submits that biodiesel is made from virgin
or used vegetable oils (both edible and non-edible), waste
vegetable oils, by products of edible oil manufacture like, fatty
acids, stearin, etc, and animal fats through trans-esterification or
esterification.
Learned counsel contends that seizure was made on
13.09.2021, whereas guidelines for sale of bio-diesel by
notification dated 30.04.2019 of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas was already there. There is nothing in the guidelines to limit
the storage of bio-diesel.
Item No.4(x) of the guidelines reads as under:-
"State Government authorities shall have the power to carry out
regular inspections of the retail outlets selling biodiesel to
ensure that the biodiesel is being made available to the
customer in the right quality and quantity, and is not being sold
as a standalone fuel for transportation purposes. In case of any
sample failure of Biodiesel (B100) being sold, State/ District
Administration shall proceed with administrative action on the
analogy of the Marketing Discipline Guidelines (MDG) for retails
Outlets selling MS (Petrol) and HSD (High Speed Diesel)."
State of Rajasthan in the Department of Rural Development
and Panchayati Raj vide order dated 23.07.2021 have permitted
the storage of bio-diesel either above the surface or beneath the
surface of land, up to one lakh liters.
(3 of 3) [CRLW-212/2022]
Learned Dy. Government Advocate does not dispute the fact
that biodiesel is not a petroleum product nor anything has been
brought to notice of the Court that by any other order, some lesser
limit for storage of biodiesel is fixed.
In the facts and circumstances, order of the Collector is not
sustainable in law, evidently for the reason that Collector has
misunderstood that bio-diesel is a petroleum product and was
found beyond the upper limit of storage of the same with the
petitioner. Hence, both the orders under challenge are hereby
quashed and it is directed that the seized biodiesel be immediately
released in favour of the petitioner.
Accordingly, this petition stands allowed.
(BIRENDRA KUMAR),J
Ashwani /-109
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