TMI Blog1996 (8) TMI 515X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ential commodities.- (1) xxx xxx xxx xxx (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred by sub-section (1), and order made thereunder may provide - (a) xxx xxx xxx xxx (b) xxx xxx xxx xxx (c) xxx xxx xxx xxx (d) for regulating by licences, permits or otherwise the storage, transport, distribution, disposal, acquisition, use or consumption of, any essential commodity; (e) xxx xxx xxx xxx (f) xxx xxx xxx xxx Section 7 of the act makes contravention of any Order made under Section 3 punishable. On 29th December, 1965, the Orissa Rice and Paddy Control Order, 1965 (hereinafter referred to as the Order ) was issued in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Act, Clause 3 of the Order which is relevant is reproduced below : 3. Licensing of persons (1) No person shall act as a dealer except under and in accordance with a licence issued in that behalf by the licensing authority: Provided that the Government may, by a special or general order, exempt, subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order, any class of persons from the operation of this sub-clause. (2) For the purpose of this clause, any person who ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... same viz., whether goods found in a moving vehicle amounted to storage within the meaning of the Order. We find two sets of judicial opinion on this aspect : one that follows the decision of the Orissa High Court in Balabhadra Raja Guru Mohapatra v. State AIR 1954 Orissa 95 in which goods in transit in a truck were held to be storage within the meaning of the Orissa Food Grains Control Order 1947 and the other that follows Orissa High Order judgment in the case of Prem Bahadur v. The State of Orissa AIR 1978 Crl.L.J. 683 in which it was held that possession of stock of rice in a moving vehicle does not amount to storage under the Orissa Rice Paddy Control Order, 1965, The impugned judgment of December 12, 1988 as well as the previous judgment in the case of Balabhadra (supra) relied on in the impugned judgment are Division Bench decisions whereas the one in the case of Prem Bahadur (supra) and those following it are all rendered by learned Single Judges. The decision in Balabhadra s case is based on the Orissa Food Grains Control Order, 1947 issued under Section 3(1) of the Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946. Clause III(1) of the said Order was very sim ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... receptacle) hold, keep, contain, have storageaccommodation for (a single cell can store enough energy for 12 months operation). The dictionary meanings suggest that storing has an element of continuity as the purpose is to keep the commodity in store and retrieve it at some future date, even within a few days. If goods are kept or stocked in a warehouse, it can be immediately described as an act of storage . A vehicle can also be used as a store house. But, whether in a particular case, a vehicle was used as a store or whether a person had stored his merchandise in a vehicle would be a matter of fact in each case. Carrying goods in a vehicle cannot per se be storing although it may be quite possible that a vehicle is used as a store. Transporting is not storing. Section 3(2)(d) of the Act extracted earlier in the judgment uses the expressions storage and transport as two separate acts which could be regulated by licences, permits or otherwise. The Order could as well prohibit transporting of large quantities of rice or paddy within the section of 3 the 3 of the Act. Was it the intention of the framers of the Order to prohibit transport Per se? Unless the facts in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f interpretation of criminal statute and the language and intent of the Order and the Act, we find ourselves in agreement with the view expressed by Ranganath Misra,J. as he then was, in Prem Bahadur s case (supra): The Orissa Order does not make possession without a licence an offence. Storage, however, has been made an offence. Between possession and storage some elements may be common and, therefore, it would be appropriate to say that in all instances of storage there would be possession. Yet, all possession may not amount to storage. Storage in the common parlance meaning connotes the concept of continued possession. There is an element of continuity of possession spread over some time and the concept is connected with the idea of a regular place of storage. Transshipment in a moving vehicle would not amount to storage within the meaning of the Orissa Order. There is no doubt that, in a given situation, a truck could be used as a store, hut we cannot agree with the view that the mere fact that goods were found in a moving truck could prove that the goods were stored in violation of the Order which makes such an act (when goods stored were rice or paddy in exces ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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