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TMI Blog1977 (10) TMI 113X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 ('Act' for short). The license enabled him to store for sale and sell food grains set out in Schedule I to the Order. By the terms of the license the licensee was obligated to maintain a register of daily accounts in the prescribed form for each of the food grains for which the license was issued and there was a further obligation to complete the accounts for each day on the day to which they relate unless prevented by reasonable cause, the burden of proving which would be upon him. The licensee had to deposit at the commencement of license, the amount of security deposit as provided by clause (6) of the Order. Clauses (8) and (9) conferred power on the licensing authority-Collector of the District in this case--to cancel the license and to forfeit the security in the event of contravention of any condition of license. The Food Inspector on a visit to the licensed premises on 13th August 1972 found certain irregularities in the accounts and submitted a report on the basis of which the licensing authority issued notice dated 21st August 1972 to the licensee calling upon him to show cause within 24 hours why the license should not be canc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the conditions of license issued thereunder. Before confiscating such seized essential commodity, s. 6B confers a duty on the licensing authority to give a notice informing the person to whose detriment the action is proposed to be taken, the grounds on which it is proposed to confiscate the essential commodity and further give him an opportunity to make a representation within a reasonable time as may be specified in the notice and also give a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter. Section 6C provides for an appeal against the order of confiscation. The State Government is required to appoint a judicial authority to entertain and bear appeals against the order of confiscation. The appellate authority so constituted has power to modify or annul the order of confiscation. Madhya Pradesh State Government has appointed a judicial authority for the purposes of s. 6C but the notification constituting the authority was not placed on record. The licensee preferred an appeal in the Court of Sessions Judge, Mandsaur Division, Mandsaur, and no one questioned that the Sessions Judge presiding over the Sessions Court at Mandsaur was competent judicial authority for the purposes ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... law of procedure according to which it would dispose of matters coming before it depending up-on the- nature of jurisdiction exercised by it acting in judicial manner. In using the compact expression judicial authority the legislative intention is clearly manifested that from amongst several pre-existing authorities exercising judicial powers of the State and discharging judicial functions, one such may be appointed as would be competent to discharge the appellate functions as envisaged by s. 6C. There is one in built suggestion indicating who could be appointed. The concept of appeal inheres hierarchy and the appellate authority broadly speaking would be higher than the authority against whose order the appeal can be entertained. Here the appellate authority would entertain appeal against the order of Collector, the highest revenue officer in a district. Sessions Judge is the highest judicial officer in the District and this situation would provide material for deter-mining appellate authority. In this connection the legislative history may throw some light oh what the legislature intended by using the expression judicial authority . The Defence of India Rules, 1962, conferred ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Court. If by the Sessions Judge is meant the Judge presiding over the Sessions Court and that is the appoint appellate authority, the conclusion is inescapable that he was not Persona design at a which expression is understood to mean a person pointed out or described as an individual as opposed to a person ascertained as a member of a class or as filling a particular character (vide Central Talkies Ltd. v. Dwarka Prasad,(1) and Ram Chandra v. State of U.P.(2) Our attention was drawn to a cleavage of opinion amongst High Courts on the construction of the expression judicial authority used (1) A.I.R. 1961 S.C. 606.in s.6C. In State of Mysore v. Pandurang P. Naik,(1) the Mysore High Court was of the opinion that though a District and Sessions Judge was appointed as a judicial authority by the State Government in exercise of the powers conferred by s. 6C of the Act in that capacity it would not be an inferior criminal court within the meaning of s. 435. Same view was taken by the Gujarat High Court in State of Gujarat v. C. M. Shah (2) The exact specification of the appellate authority constituted by the notification could not be gathered from the judgment but it appears that the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s his designation from the nomenclature of the Court, even if the appointment is made by the (1) (1971) 1 Mysore Law Journal 401.designation of the judicial officer the appellate authority indicated is the Court over which he presides discharging functions under the relevant Code and placed in the hierarchy of courts for the purposes of appeal and revision. Viewed from this angle, the Sessions Judge, though appointed an appellate authority by the notification, what the State Government did was to constitute an appellate authority in the Secessions Court over which the Sessions Judge presides. The Sessions Court is constituted under the Code of Criminal Procedure and indisputably it is an inferior criminal court in relation to High Court. Therefore, against the order made in exercise of powers conferred by s. 6C a revision application would lie to the High Court and the High Court would be entitled to entertain a revision application under ss. 435 and 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 which was in force at the relevant time and such revision application would be competent. It was next contended that in the facts and circumstances of this case the High Court should not ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion of license which would deny the licensee an opportunity to. carry on a business of food grains and the forfeiture of security deposit, it would be unjust to inflict further penalty in the form of confiscation of food grains worth ₹ 50,000/-. It appears from the judgment of the High Court that the price so worked out was the price on which confiscated food gains were sold at the controlled rate. The contention is that if the appellate authority which had power, to annul or modify the order has annulled the order of confiscation, would the High Court be justified in interfering with such order in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction merely because it was of the opinion that confiscation was justified. Section 435 which confers revisional jurisdiction on the High Court enables the Court to call for and examine the record of any proceedings before any inferior criminal court for the purposes of satisfying itself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of the finding, sentence, or order recorded or passed, etc. Under s. 439 the High Court, while exercising revisional jurisdiction, has the same power as is conferred on the High Court as a Court of appeal under s.423 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ential commodities are issued in public interest and the regulations are made for proper enforcement of such orders. The High Court was also of the opinion that when there is a breach committed with a view to obtaining monetary profit, the punishment in terms of money should be equivalent of a stiff and deterrent multiple of the improper profit the offender is likely or intends to make by the breach. Confiscation of property is penal in character. The Session Judge examined the penal character of confiscation order and held that in the circumstances of the case it was not just and proper. The appellate authority had power and jurisdiction to decide. the same. The High Court could not have lightly interfered with the order of the Sessions Judge setting aside the, confiscation especially in exercise of the revisional jurisdiction under s. 439 without making out any of the well recognised grounds for interfering in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction and straightaway proceed to interfere with the order which would not be correct exercise of, its revisional jurisdiction. The facts are that the licensee is dead and he has left behind minor children and a widow. The, license havin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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