Summary
On secret information that two men were selling LPG cylinders in black from a truck at Phagwara in 1995, a police Sub-Inspector registered an FIR, apprehended them and seized the cylinders. No independent witness supported the prosecution, and the trial court convicted them under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 only for unauthorised possession, which the High Court affirmed. The Supreme Court acquitted them: Clause 7 of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order, 1988 confers the power of search and seizure on specified civil supplies officers, oil company sales officers or persons notified by the Government, nothing showed the Sub-Inspector was so authorised, and where a power must be exercised in a particular manner it must be exercised in that manner or not at all.
Issues
- Whether a prosecution under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 for unauthorised possession of LPG cylinders can be sustained where the search and seizure were carried out by a police Sub-Inspector not authorised under Clause 7 of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order, 1988.
Provisions considered
- Clause 7, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order, 1988Empowers only an officer of the Food and Civil Supplies Department not below the rank of Inspector, an oil company officer not below Sales Officer, or a person authorised by the Central or State Government and notified by the Central Government to stop, search and seize; it nowhere authorises a police Sub-Inspector and no authorisation was placed on record. (¶¶ 8, 9, 13, 14)
- Clause 3, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order, 1988Restricts unauthorised possession of gas cylinders, the only charge the prosecution could establish. (¶¶ 6, 9)
- Section 7, Essential Commodities Act, 1955Conviction for contravention of the Order set aside because the proceedings were initiated by an officer without authority under the Order. (¶¶ 2, 16, 17)
Held
- Where a power is given to do a thing in a certain way it must be done in that way or not at all, other methods being forbidden; in the absence of authority in the Sub-Inspector to act under the 1988 Order, the proceedings initiated by him were wholly unauthorised and must be struck down, a point neither the trial court nor the High Court considered. (¶¶ 10, 14, 15, 16)
Result
Appeal allowed; judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated 15.01.2010 and the trial court's order dated 08.07.1997 set aside; conviction and sentence under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 set aside; bail bonds discharged.