9911796707
TMI Blog1986 (2) TMI 343X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 985 passed by a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court consisting of R.N. Pyne and Ajit Kumar Sen Gupta, JJ. setting aside an interlocutory order of Padma Khastgir, J. dated November 6, 1985. By the impugned order, the learned Judges have directed the release to the respondents of more or less 600 metric tonnes of tin plates which, according to the State Government, are worth nearly about ₹ 60 lakhs, seized from them for alleged contravention of item 24, schedule 1 to the West Bengal Declaration of Stocks and Prices of Essential Commodities Order, 1997 and which, according to the respondents, are nothing but waste material, on condition set out by them, namely, on the furnishing of bank guarantee of ₹ 5 lakhs in the form of f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ry order should have passed the impugned order directing release of the seized goods without affording an opportunity to the State Government to file a return to the writ petition. There is material on record to show that the seized goods are essential commodities, namely, Notification No.SO.508(E)/ESS/Iron & Steel-2A dated 1.7.1985 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Steel, Mines & Coal, and examination report dated November 13, 1985 by the Appraiser (Metal Expert). We are greatly distressed that the learned Judges despite a long line of decisions of this Court starting from Siliguri Municipality & Ors. v. Amalendu Das & Ors. [1984] 2 S.C.C. 436 to Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Chandan Nagar West Bengal v. Dunlop India ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , Alipore before whom the trial is pending. That apart, the observations call in question the validity of the action of the Additional Collector in serving a notice of confiscation under s.6A of the Act with respect to the seized goods. We do not see legality and propriety of making these observations by the learned Judges which have the effect of prejudging the whole issue before the learned Single Judge who is seized of the writ petition, as also foreclosing the trial of the respondents for commission of the alleged offences. In somewhat similar circumstances, Chinnappa Reddy, J. speaking for the Court in Dunlop India Ltd.'s case, after referring to the earlier decisions in Siliguri Municipality, Titaghur Paper Mills Co. Ltd. v. State of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... llection of monthly rentals payable by excise contractors has been stayed with the result that at the end of the year the contractor has paid nothing but made his profits from the shop and walked out. We have come across cases where dealers in food grains and essential commodities have been allowed to take back the stocks seized from them as if to permit them to continue to indulge in the very practices which were to be prevented by the seizure. We have come across cases where land reform and important welfare legislations have been stayed by courts. Incalculable harm has been done by such interim orders. All this is not to say that interim orders may never be made against public authorities. There are, of course, cases which demand that in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... isions of this Court deprecating the practice prevalent in the High Court of passing such interlocutory orders for the mere asking, the learned Single Judge should have passed the impugned ad interim exparte prohibitory order the effect of which, as the learned Attorney-General rightly complains, was virtually to bring to a standstill a development scheme of the Urban Improvement Trust, Jaipur viz. Civil Lines Extension Scheme, irrespective of the fact whether or not the High Court had any territorial jurisdiction to entertain a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. Such arbitrary exercise of power by the High Court at the public expense reacts against the development and prosperity of the country and is clearly detrimental to the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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