Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
Ram Singh Palsaniya Son Of Shri Mohan Lal vs State Of Rajasthan on 12 July, 2022
Author: Birendra Kumar
Bench: Birendra Kumar
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Criminal Writ Petition No. 212/2022
Ram Singh Palsaniya Son Of Shri Mohan Lal, Aged About 44
Years, Resident Of Dhani Mewakawali, Near Sadhna Petrol Pump
Nh-8, Byepass Tan Shahpura, Police Station Shahpura District
Jaipur.
----Petitioner
Versus
State Of Rajasthan, Through The P.P.
----Respondent
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. J.S. Rathore, Adv. with Mr. Shivam, Adv.
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Chandragupt Chopra, Dy.
Government Advocate HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE BIRENDRA KUMAR Order 12/07/2022 19500 Liters of Biodiesel was seized by the Police from three different premises belonging to the petitioner. By the impugned order dated 27.12.2021 passed by the District Collector, Jaipur in Case No.09/2021 in exercise of power under Section 6A of the E.C. Act. The Collector directed confiscation of the bio-diesel. The said order was challenged in Criminal Appeal No.01/2022 before the learned Sessions Judge and by judgment dated 16.03.2022, the order of the Collector was upheld. Both the orders are under challenge herein. The Collector was of the view that it was petrol / diesel and its storage above a certain limit was not permissible.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Collector has misunderstood that biodiesel is a petroleum product as such the entire order suffers from error of law. The Lower Appellate (Downloaded on 15/07/2022 at 09:11:18 PM) (2 of 3) [CRLW-212/2022] Court also did not appreciate that biodiesel is not a petroleum product, hence affirmation of wrong order is also bad in law.
Learned counsel has relied on the statement of Bureau of Indian Standards which defines bio-diesel as follows:-
"Fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, designated B100. The term 'Biodiesel' refers to mono alkyl methyl esters of vegetable oils like rapeseed, soya bean, sunflower, jatropha curcas, karanja, palm stearin, etc, used cooking oils, waste vegetable oils, by-products of edible oil manufacture like free fatty acids, stearin, etc, and other fats."
Learned counsel submits that biodiesel is made from virgin or used vegetable oils (both edible and non-edible), waste vegetable oils, by products of edible oil manufacture like, fatty acids, stearin, etc, and animal fats through trans-esterification or esterification.
Learned counsel contends that seizure was made on 13.09.2021, whereas guidelines for sale of bio-diesel by notification dated 30.04.2019 of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was already there. There is nothing in the guidelines to limit the storage of bio-diesel.
Item No.4(x) of the guidelines reads as under:-
"State Government authorities shall have the power to carry out regular inspections of the retail outlets selling biodiesel to ensure that the biodiesel is being made available to the customer in the right quality and quantity, and is not being sold as a standalone fuel for transportation purposes. In case of any sample failure of Biodiesel (B100) being sold, State/ District Administration shall proceed with administrative action on the analogy of the Marketing Discipline Guidelines (MDG) for retails Outlets selling MS (Petrol) and HSD (High Speed Diesel)."
State of Rajasthan in the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj vide order dated 23.07.2021 have permitted the storage of bio-diesel either above the surface or beneath the surface of land, up to one lakh liters.
(Downloaded on 15/07/2022 at 09:11:18 PM)
(3 of 3) [CRLW-212/2022] Learned Dy. Government Advocate does not dispute the fact that biodiesel is not a petroleum product nor anything has been brought to notice of the Court that by any other order, some lesser limit for storage of biodiesel is fixed.
In the facts and circumstances, order of the Collector is not sustainable in law, evidently for the reason that Collector has misunderstood that bio-diesel is a petroleum product and was found beyond the upper limit of storage of the same with the petitioner. Hence, both the orders under challenge are hereby quashed and it is directed that the seized biodiesel be immediately released in favour of the petitioner.
Accordingly, this petition stands allowed.
(BIRENDRA KUMAR),J Ashwani /-109 (Downloaded on 15/07/2022 at 09:11:18 PM) Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)