TMI Blog1999 (1) TMI 539X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... adulterated as it did not conform to the standard prescribed for that food article and hence report was forwarded to the Local Health Authority. A complaint was thereafter filed against the respondent before the Magistrate Court concerned for the aforesaid of- fence. When respondent entered appearance he made an application to the court for sending one of the remaining parts of the sample to the Director of Central Food Laboratory and the court despatched it as prayed for. The Director of Central Food Laboratory sent a Certificate to the court specifying the result of the analysis to the effect that the food article contained in the sample conforms to the standard prescribed for com-pounded Asafoetida. Respondent thereupon move the trial court for discharging him from prosecution, but the learned Magistrate declined to do so on the premise that the certificate of analysis issued by the Director of Central Food Laboratory was not complete as results of certain tests were not indicated therein.' Respondent then moved the High Court in revision challenging the aforesaid order of the Magistrate, learned Single Judge of the High Court upheld the contentions of the respondents an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... loric acid, (i) less than 5 per cent alcoholic extract, (with 90 per cent of alcohol) as estimated by the U.S.P. 1936 method. Sri Tapas Ray, learned senior counsel for the petitioner- Corpora-tion, contended before us that as the certificate is silent about galbanum resin, ammoniaccum resin and mineral pigment it must be presumed that the Director of Central Food Laboratory has not conducted those tests with the sample and hence the certificate cannot be acted on as such. If the certificate issued by the Director of Central Food Laboratory did not contain anything about those three elements it only means that the sample did not contain even a wee bit of those elements when analysis was made in the laboratory. The Central Food Laboratory is established in accordance with Section 4 of the Act. Rule 4 of the PFA Rules contains provisions to be followed by the Director of Central Food Laboratory on receipt of a part of the sample sent by the court. Sub-rule (4) prescribes that receipt of a package containing a sample for analysis the Director or an officer authorized by him, shall compare the seals on the container and the outer cover with specimen impression received sep ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t any document purporting to be a certificate signed by the Director of the Central Food Laboratory........shall be final and conclusive evidence of the facts stated therein. If a fact is declared by a statute as final and conclusive, its impact is crucial because no party can then give evidence for the purpose of disprov- ing the fact. This is the import of Section 4 of the Evidence Act which defines three kinds of presumptions among which the last is conclusive proof. When one fact is declared by this Act to be conclusive proof of another the court shall, on proof of the one fact regard the other as proved and shall not allow evidence to be given for the purpose of disproving it. Thus the legal impact of a Certificate of the Director of Central Food Laboratory is three-fold. It annuls or replaces the report of the Public Analyst, it gains finality regarding the quality and standard of the food article involved in the case and it becomes irrefutable so far as the facts stated therein are concerned. If the argument of the learned counsel for the Corporation is upheld and the Certificate of the Director of Central Food Laboratory is sidelined as pleaded by him, the cons ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eration because of the tampering of the seals, there was really no evidence before the Court on the basis of which the appellant could be convicted. The court could not fall back on the report of the Public Analyst as it had been superseded. The only method of challenging the report of the Public Analyst was by having the sample tested by the Director of the Central Food Laboratory. For the aforesaid reasons the High Court has rightly quashed the prosecution proceedings on the strength of the Certificate of the Director of Central Food Laboratory which has come on record in the case. D.P. WADHWA, J. This special Leave Petition is barred by 309 days. It is against an order made in revision by the Calcutta High Court uphold-ing the order of the trial court acquitting the respondent of an offence under Sections 7/16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (Act, for short). There is an application by the petitioner seeking condonation of delay in filing this petition. Reliance has been placed on a decision of this Court in Collector, Land Acquisition, Anantnag and Anr. v. Mst. Katiji and Ors., AIR (1987) SC 1353. It was submitted that the Court should be liberal in c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cted by the officers of the Law Department of the Petitioner Corporation during May, 1998, and a decision to file the SLP was taken during June, 1998. The Advocate-on-record for the Petitioner was instructed to file the S.L.P. upon re-opening of this Hon'ble Court after summer vacations. Upon examination of the papers sent for filing S.L.P. it was found that the same were insufficient to draft the S.L.P. Accordingly, vide letter dated 14.07.1998, a requisition was sent for forwarding the required documents, this requisition was followed by a reminder dated 27.07.1998. The Officer of the Corporation visited Delhi in connection with this case and other matters on 02.09.1998, but again without Annexure P-2 to the S.L.P., though the S.L.P. was finalised and the Affidavit was sworn by the Officer of the Corporation but for want of Annexure P-2 to the S.L.P. the same could not be filed. The Annexure P-2 to the S.L.P. was received on 15.09.98, and thereafter this S.L.P. was filed without any delay. Annexure P-2 is a report of the Central Food Laboratory dated November 2, 1989. It is not that this report was not with the petitioner. On the face of it, there appears to be no suffici ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... suitably to achieve this purpose. It is, therefore, only when this Court from the facts stated in the application seeking condonation of delay is prima facie of the view that there could be sufficient cause that notice is required to be issued. If the application does not make out any such cause there is no bar dismissing the application without notice to the other party. Since no sufficient cause was shown by the petitioner as noted above, we dismissed the petition on the ground of delay. Though we dismissed the special leave petition on the ground of delay as well as on merits, on reconsideration I feel it is contradiction in terms. If we dismiss the petition on the ground of delay we cannot go into the merits though at best it could be said that it is not a fit case for this Court to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 138 of the Constitution. Be that as it may. With due respect to my learned brethren I think I should not express any opinion on the statement of law that if the certificate issued by the Director of Central Food Laboratory did not contain anything about those three elements it only means that the sample did not contain even a wee bit of those elemen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... se tests with the sample and such certificate issued by him is not valid cannot be brushed aside without hearing full arguments. It is on this ground that I have expressed my inability to concur with the view that if the certificate issued by the Director, CFL did not contain anything about those three elements it only means that the sample did not contain even a wee bit of those elements when analysis was made in the laboratory. As a matter of fact I think that this Court should not lay down a law on an ex parte hearing. It is not material even if the dismissal of the petition does not prejudice the other party. Any law declared by this Court applies all over. It is binding on all the courts in the country under Article 141 of the Constitution. In Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Ghisa Ram, [1967] 2 SCR 116 the plea which found acceptance by this Court was that the respondent having been denied his right of obtaining the report of Director, CFL because of the delay by the appellant in launching the prosecution, the respondent could not be validly convicted. It was case where sample of curd was lifted from the shop of the respondent. This court held : It appears to us that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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