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The State Of Punjab vs M/S Doaba Seed Store on 11 August, 2023

Bench: S. Ravindra Bhat, Aravind Kumar

     ITEM NO.39                                   COURT NO.8                    SECTION II-B

                                     S U P R E M E C O U R T O F          I N D I A
                                             RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

     SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRIMINAL) Diary No(s). 7926/2019

     (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 16-08-2018
     in CRM-M No. 8243/2017 16-08-2018 in CRM-M No. 5376/2018 passed by
     the High Court Of Punjab & Haryana At Chandigarh)

     THE STATE OF PUNJAB                                                         Petitioner(s)

                                                         VERSUS

     M/S DOABA SEED STORE & ANR. ETC.                                            Respondent(s)


         IA No. 51515/2019 - CONDONATION OF DELAY IN FILING)

     Date : 11-08-2023 These matters were called on for hearing today.

     CORAM :
                              HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. RAVINDRA BHAT
                              HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARAVIND KUMAR


     For Petitioner(s)                   Ms. Bhakti Pasrija, D.A.G.
                                         Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR
                                         Mr. Moksh Pasrija, Adv.

     For Respondent(s)                   Mr. Jose Abraham, AOR

                                          Ms. Anu Monga, Adv.
                                          Mr. Rahul Goel, Adv.
                                          Mr. Shobhit Sharma, Adv.
                                          Ms. Parul Gaur, Adv.
                                          Mr. Nimit Saigal, Adv.
                                          Ms. Aditi Sharma, Adv.
                                          Mr. Shivendra Singh, AOR

                               UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
                                                  O R D E R

Delay condoned.

We have considered the record and heard counsel for the parties.

Digitally signed by Rajni Mukhi Date: 2023.08.17 16:30:19 IST Reason: Learned counsel for the respondents relied upon the judgment of this Court in Pawan Kumar Ralli vs Maninder Singh Narula (2014) 1 15 SCC 245. It is alleged that the prosecution suppressed the relevant facts with respect to the grant or refusal of the complaint and is urging that question for the first time. We notice from the record that the complaint itself had mentioned at Paragraph 18 that sanction of the authorized person under Section 31(1) of the Insecticide Act had been accorded on 25.05.2015. Therefore what follows is that the period of limitation falls within the exception covered by Section 470 (3) and its explanation, in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The sanction was sought (in terms of the material placed on record by the State) on 29.10.2013; the incident occurred on 18.7.2012 and the report was received on 22.08.2012. Sanction was granted on 25.05.2015 and the complaint filed on 01.07.2016. In the circumstances, given that the limitation period would be three years, the High Court in our opinion should not have exercised its extraordinary power to quash the complaint because if one excludes the period between 29.10.2013 and 25.5.2015, it was within the period of limitation, the impugned order is therefore set aside.

Accordingly, the matter is remitted to trial court to continue with the proceedings from where they were quashed, with no order on costs.

The special leave petition is allowed.

Pending applications, if any, are disposed of.

(HARSHITA UPPAL)                                                (BEENA JOLLY)
SENIOR PERSONAL ASSISTANT                                       COURT MASTER (NSH)

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