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TMI Blog1985 (7) TMI 381X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l Commodities Act was amended by the Essential Commodities (Special Provision) Act, 1981 (Act 18 of 1981). The amendments were intended to be operative only for a temporary period of five years. The object of the amendment was to deal more effectively with persons indulging in hoarding and blackmarketing of, and profiteering in, any essential commodities and the evils of vicious inflatory prices and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Section 2 of the Amendment Act provided that during its continuance, the principal Act (Essential Commodities Act, 1955) shall have effect only subject to Sections 3 to 11 of the Amendment Act. By Sections 3 to 13 of the Amending Act, most of the sections in the principal Act were drastically amended temporarily for the purpose of achieving the abovesaid object. Section 10-A of the principal Act was amended. Section 12 was omitted. Section 12-A was substituted in order to provide for constitution of special courts consisting of a single Judge. The single Judge shall be a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the High Court or who has been a Sessions Judge or Addl. Sessions Judge for a minimum period of one year, A new provi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... duced by Amending Act is the constitution of Special Courts and giving exclusive jurisdiction to such courts. The jurisdictions of other courts were specifically ousted. So also the amendments had the effect of changing nature of the offences. Amendments were made in respect of granting bail also. The other amendment relevant for our purpose is Section 12-AA(1)(e) which provides that Special Courts may take cognizance of offences on a police report without the accused being committed to it for trial. Main reliance by the petitioner was on this provision. The contention was that this provision operates as a total bar in taking cognizance by any method other than a police report. 6. In this connection the petitioners placed reliance on the following decisions. In Re : Satish Chandra De, 1984 Cri LJ 1532. That is a decision of the Calcutta High Court. Ram Prasad Sharma Sons v, State of Rajasthan, 1985 Cri LJ 442. That is a decision of the Jaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court. Ranendra Kumar Swain v. State of Orissa (1985) 59 Cut LT 324. This decision only followed the other two decisions. These decisions held that during the subsistence of the Amending Act cognizance could be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lature wanted Section 11 to be inoperative during the temporary period of the amendment, nothing prevented it from deleting the section or amending the same suitably. In the context, it may not be correct to interpret that Section 11 was retained untouched due to an omission. A legislative provision could be modified or deleted by repeal, amendment, annulment or by the doctrine of implied repeal. In this case there is no legislative repeal, substitution or amendment of Section 11. The doctrine of implied repeal will come into play only in cases where there are statutes with provisions which are mutually conflicting. Here, there is only one statute and the provisions are not conflicting also. What is involved is only interpretation of the provisions of Section 11 and the amended Section 12AA. By no stretch of imagination it could be held that Section 11 and Section 12AA(1)(e) are conflicting with each other or mutually exclusive. It is not possible to say that the provisions of Section 12AA(1)(e) enabling the special courts to take cognizance on a police report without the accused being committed for trial, is in any way in conflict with Section 11. As already stated by me, the repo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... visions of the Code of Criminal Procedure which is made applicable to trial of cases under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act. For example, Section 190 of the Cr. P.C. provides for taking cognizance of offences (1) on a complaint, (2) on a police report, or (3) upon information received from any person other than a police officer or upon information of the court itself. Even in a cognizable case, the courts are entitled to take cognizance on a complaint or on other informations, even though there is prohibition against the police in investigating non-cognizable offences without an order from the Magistrate. Even if it is construed that Section 11 does not include a police report, it could only be taken that the amendment wanted cognizance to be taken on a police report also. Section 2 of the Amending Act provides that during the continuance of the amendment, the unamended provisions of the principal Act shall have effect only subject to the amendment. 10. Even if it is construed that there is any conflict between Sections 11 and 12-AA(1)(e), the maximum that could be said is that Section 11 will have operation only subject to the provisions of Section 12-AA(1)(e). T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hall follow the procedure prescribed by the Criminal P.C. 1898 for the trial of warrant cases by Magistrates'. The Criminal P.C. has prescribed four known methods of taking cognizance of offences by the Courts competent to try the same. The Court has to take cognizance of the offence before initiation of the proceeding can be contemplated. The Court called upon to take cognizance of the offence must apply its mind to the facts placed before it either upon a police report or upon a complaint or in some other manner the Court came to know about it and in the case of Court of Session upon commitment of the case by the Magistrate. On the second question the decision was: It is a well-established canon of construction that the Court should read the section as it is and cannot rewrite it to suit its convenience; nor does any canon of construction permit the Court to read the section in such manner as to render it to some extent otiose. Section 8(1) says that the Special Judge shall take cognizance of an offence and shall not take it on commitment of the accused. The Legislature provided for both the positive and the negative. It positively conferred power on Special Judge to ta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to how cognizance will have to be taken by the courts, it may not be proper for the courts to read into the provisions that one of the modes of cognizance provided in the statute has been impliedly repealed by another provision especially when an interpretation of the latter provision cannot yield such a consequence. So far as the case in hand is concerned, the provisions of Section 11 authorise cognizance being taken on the report of a public servant which includes a police report under Sections 173(2) and 173(8) of the Cr. P.C. As I have earlier stated, Section 12-AA(1)(e) only clarifies the position by saying that cognizance could be had on the basis of a police report also. It appears that the main object of Section 12-AA(1)(e) is to provide that in spite of the provision in Section 193 of the Cr. P.C. as a court of original jurisdiction, the Special Judge will be competent to take cognizance without a committal proceeding. By no stretch of imagination, it could be read into the provisions of Section 12-AA(1)(e), a legislative intent to exclude the operation of Section 11. A harmonious interpretation keeping alive Sections 11 and 12 AA(1)(e), which appear in quick succession in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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