Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
Sushila Agarwal vs Superintendent (Prosecution) Central ... on 15 October, 2025
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
JODHPUR
S.B. Criminal Revision Petition No. 1376/2025
1. Sushila Agarwal Spouse/o Shri O P Agarwal, Aged About
69 Years, 24 Floor 40-42 Victoria Tower, Ganpatrao
Kadam Mard, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
2. Narayan Lal Agarwal S/o Shri Bl Agarwal, Aged About 63
Years, 54, Zink Park, District Udaipur, Rajasthan.
3. N L Khetan S/o Shri J C Khetan, Aged About 59 Years, 05,
Tirupatti, Girwa, District Udaipur, Rajasthan.
----Petitioners
Versus
Superintendent (Prosecution) Central Excise And Customs,
Jaipur.
----Respondent
For Petitioner(s) : Dr. Sachin Acharya, Sr. Adv. Assisted
by Mr. Ramdev Rajpurohit
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Kuldeep Vaishnav, Senior standing
counsel for Central Excise And
Customs, Jaipur
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MUKESH RAJPUROHIT
Order
15/10/2025
Heard.
Admit.
Issue notice.
Learned Senior Standing Mr. Kuldeep Vaishnav, appearing on
behalf of Central Excise & Customs Department, Jaipur accepts
notice on behalf of sole respondent, therefore service is complete.
Call for record.
The matter comes up consideration of S.B. Criminal
Suspension of Sentence Application (Revision) No.330/2025 in
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S.B. CRLR No.1376/2025 under Section 438/442 of BNSS filed
against the judgment of conviction and sentence dated
02.11.2004, passed by the learned Additional Chief Judicial
Magistrate (Economic Offences), Jodhpur in Criminal Case
No.57/1998 as affirmed by the learned Additional Session Judge
No.6, Jodhpur Metropolitan, Jodhpur vide judgment dated
07.10.2025 in Criminal Appeal No.81/2014.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has relied upon Circular
No. 15/90-CX.6 dated 09.08.1990 issued by the Central Board of
Excise & Customs, Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue),
Government of India, annexed at Page 49 of the documents,
which explicitly prescribes the procedure for prosecution. Despite
this clear directive, proceedings have been initiated against the
petitioners without obtaining the requisite prosecution sanction. It
is further submitted that the petitioners raised this specific
objection at the appropriate stage of the trial; however, the
learned trial court failed to duly consider or address the same.
Moreover, the hearing of the revision petition is likely to take a
significant time. Therefore, the sentence awarded to the
petitioners may be suspended.
Per contra, learned Senior Standing counsel Mr. Kuldeep
Vaishnav appearing on behalf of the sole respondent Central
Excise & Customs Department, Jaipur has vehemently opposed
the prayer made by learned counsel for the petitioners.
Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the
material available on record.
Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case so
also the facts and grounds raised in the instant petition; the
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hearing of the revision petition, preferred by the petitioners
against the impugned judgment shall take sufficient time, I
consider it just and proper to suspend the sentence awarded to
the accused-petitioners.
Accordingly, the application S.B. Criminal Suspension of
Sentence Application (Revision) No.330/2025 under Section
438/442 of BNSS is allowed and it is ordered that the sentence
passed by the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate
(Economic Offences), Jodhpur vide judgment dated 02.11.2004 in
Criminal Case No.20/2019, as affirmed by the learned Additional
Session Judge No.6, Jodhpur Metropolitan, Jodhpur vide judgment
dated 07.10.2025 in Criminal Appeal No.03/2023, against
accused-petitioners - (1) Sushila Agarwal Spouse/o Shri O P
Agarwal, (2) Narayan Lal Agarwal S/o Shri Bl Agarwal &
(3) N L Khetan S/o Shri J C Khetan, shall remain suspended till
final disposal of the aforesaid revision petition and the petitioners
shall be released on bail provided each of them execute a personal
bond in the sum of Rs.50,000/- with two sureties of Rs.20,000/-
each to the satisfaction of the learned trial Judge for their
appearance in this Court on 17.11.2025 and whenever ordered to
do so, till the disposal of the petition on the conditions indicated
below:-
1. That they will appear before the trial Court in the
month of January of every year till the petition is
decided.
2. That if the petitioners change the place of
residence, they will give in writing their changed
address to the trial Court as well as to the counsel
in the High Court.
3. Similarly, if the sureties change their address,
they will give in writing their changed address to
the trial Court.
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The learned trial Court shall keep the record of attendance of
the accused-petitioners in a separate file. Such file be registered
as Criminal Misc. Case related to original case in which the
accused-petitioners were tried and convicted. A copy of this order
shall also be placed in that file for ready reference. Criminal Misc.
file shall not be taken into account for statistical purpose relating
to pendency and disposal of cases in the trial Court. In case the
said accused-petitioners does not appear before the trial court,
the learned trial Judge shall report the matter to the High Court
for cancellation of bail.
A copy of this order be placed in the file of Suspension of
Sentence.
(MUKESH RAJPUROHIT),J
486-mSingh/-
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