Essential commodities law: "release" under confiscation proceedings does not mean return to the person from whom goods were seized.
Under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, confiscation under Section 6A and prosecution under Section 7 operate as separate consequences of breach of a control order. Section 6E ousts the jurisdiction of other courts and authorities and vests exclusive interim authority in the Collector or State Government over possession, delivery, disposal, release or distribution pending confiscation. The term "release" does not permit restoration of seized essential commodities to the owner or possessor, because that would undermine confiscation and the Act's object of preventing hoarding, scarcity and disruption of public distribution. The Collector may order only limited interim disposal consistent with the statutory scheme.
Issues: Whether, after seizure of essential commodities under an order made under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and during pending confiscation proceedings under Section 6A, the Collector is empowered under Section 6E to release the goods back to the owner or person from whom they were seized.
Analysis: The scheme of the Act creates two distinct consequences for contravention of a control order under Section 3: confiscation under Section 6A and prosecution with punishment under Section 7. Section 6A confers power of confiscation and, in limited circumstances, power to sell perishable or expedient goods in public interest, but not a general power to return seized essential commodities. Section 6E ousts the jurisdiction of courts and other authorities and vests exclusive authority in the Collector or State Government to make orders concerning possession, delivery, disposal, release or distribution pending confiscation. Read in the context of the Act's object of preventing hoarding, avoiding artificial scarcity, maintaining supply and securing equitable distribution, the word "release" cannot mean return of the commodity to the person from whom it was seized, because that would frustrate confiscation and render the mandatory forfeiture consequence under Section 7 nugatory.
Conclusion: The Collector has no power under Section 6E to return the seized essential commodity to the owner or possessor pending confiscation proceedings; the provision permits release only in the limited sense consistent with sale, distribution, or similar regulatory disposal.
Final Conclusion: The statutory scheme preserves confiscation and prosecution as independent consequences of breach of a control order, and the Collector's interim power under Section 6E must be exercised to further, not defeat, the Act's object of public distribution and control.
Ratio Decidendi: Under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, the term "release" in Section 6E does not include restoration of the seized essential commodity to the person from whom it was seized; it is confined to interim disposal consistent with the Act's regulatory and confiscatory scheme.
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