TMI Blog1976 (7) TMI 167X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ms an oil mill where Khurasani oil and groundnut oil are manufactured by the firm. Sometimes they crush oil seeds for others on ire who pay milling charges. The appellants in Criminal Appeal No. 314 are the managing partner and the manager of the mill and the appellant in Criminal appeal No. 315 is the operator of the expeller in the mill who actual sold the offending commodity. On February 16, 1972 the Food inspector of Bhagur Municipality walked into the sales section of the Mill, asked for 375 grams of khurasani oil from accused no. 8, appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 315. The quantity required was applied and, thereafter, the Food Inspector went through the statutory exercises preparatory to an analysis by the Public Analyst. After receiving the report of the Analyst to the effect that the sample of hurasani oil sent for analysis contained 30% of groundnut oil which amounted to a contravention of rule 44(e) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules (for short, the rules), a complaint was lodged for selling adulterated food within the meaning of s. 2(i) of he Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (hereinafter called the Act) read with ss. 7(1) and 16 (1)(a) and r.44(e). Evid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erated within the meaning of s.2(i)(1) more appropriately it falls outside the ambit of s.2(i)(a). Otherwise, he argues, there is no point in itemising the various sub-divisions even though he con cedes that marginally there may be overlapping among the sub- clauses He further contends that even assuming that s.2(i)(a) is all-corn prehensive, it must be read as the genus and thereafter sub-clause (b) to (1) fall under two. broad categories, viz., adulteration where injurious sub- stances have been admixed and adulteration where innocent additions have been made or the substances sold merely violate a standard or degree of purity prescribed. If there were force in this submission, the culpa, according to counsel, could reasonably 'fall under the non-injurious type of adulteration covered by s.2(i)(1) The statute, says Shri Bhandare, sensibly dichotomises the senreno. and invests a discretion in the court in the second category to reduce the sentence below the minimum stipulated, if special reasons exist for such clemency. Of course, counsel concedes that if the adulteration is of the injurious brand, judicial sympathy is statutorily supplanted 73 this, he reasons, fits into and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ioratory proviso to s.16(1) and the High Court is legally right in its conversion of the provision for conviction and enhancement of the sentence. We unhesitatingly hold that if s.2(i)(a) adequately fits in, adulteration under that provision must be found. 73 Once this position is made plain, the penalty that the appellants must suffer is foolproof. Section 16 lays down the penalties and classifies them. We are particularly concerned with s,16(1) of the Act which itself clubs together many categories out of which we have to pick out only two for the purposes of this case, viz., (i) sale of any article of food which is adulterated; and (ii) sale of any article of food other than one which is adulterated---'in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule made thereunder'. Ordinarily, both these clauses. of offences are punishable with the minimum prescribed 'of not less ,than six months' imprisonment, together with fine which shall not be less than ₹ 1,000/-'. However, there is a kindly proviso which confers on the court a power to be exercised for any adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment whereby a sentence of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld. The possibility of long argument in a case where the accused has pleaded guilty arises because the provision lends itself to adroit exercises. The court has to look at the interpretative problem in the social setting of the statute, visualising the rough and tumble of the market place, the finesse with which clever victuallers fob off adulterated edibles and gullible buyers goofily fall victim. Viewed this way, chasing recondite semantics or niceties of classification or chopping of logic has no scope for play. The appeals must fail, without more. But we have to take note of a few circumstances of significance brought to our notice by counsel for the appellant .with which the State's counsel could not express serious disagreement, although he made no concessions., We now proceed to refer to these factors which do not deflect us from confirming the conviction. The curtain has been drawn thereon. To begin with, we are free to confess to a hunch that the appellants had hastened with their pleas of guilty hopefully, induced by an informal, tripartite understanding of light sentence in lieu of nolo contendere stance. Many economic offenders resort to practices the American ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion. The sole relevance of this digression in this judgment is to highlight the fact that the appellants perhaps acted on an expectation which came to pass at the trial level but was reversed at the appellate level and this touch of 'immorality' in the harsh morality of the punishment is a factor counsel wants us to take note of. But we can do nothing about it when the minimum is set by the 7 justice to the citizen and relieve over-worked courts by more judicial agencies and streamlined procedures instead of leaving the uninformed public blindly to censure delayed disposals. One real reason for long litigation is inaction or ineffective action of the legislature. All knowledgeable law-men may concede that the procedures in municipal and higher courts are ossified to the point, priced to the level, and slow to the degree where they cannot flexibly assist disputants in early resolution of their everyday disputes. This, we hope, will change and the source of the evil eliminated. The next draft on the court's commiseration, made by counsel, is based on the milling operation realities surrounding the commission of the crime. It is asserted by the appellant's advoca ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... remission of sentence. The appellants have sworn an affidavit in this Court stating that khurasam oil is the same as nigar-seed oil. This is backed by a certificate from the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce and is evidently correct. What is more important is that the appellants, when surprised by a modification of their sentence to a heavier one for what they thought was undeserving, moved in the matter of cases generally of adulteration of khurasani oil with groundnut oil. They drew the attention of the authorities to punishment of innocents and it appears that the. State Government was satisfied about this grievance and has since withdrawn a substantial number of cases against dealers of khurasani oil whose sales were contaminated with presence of groundnut oil. The affidavit on behalf of the appellants states: I further say that various cases filed by the respondents against the dealers of khurasani oil are now being withdrawn as invariably groundnut oil is observed in khurasani oil. I crave leave to refer to and rely on the Journal of Maharashtra Chumher Patrika dated 21st September, 1975, when produced. Probably, had the present case survived till the government took ..... 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