Panchanama evidentiary value depends on contemporaneous, witness-recorded facts; prefilled sampling forms are unreliable.

A panchanama must faithfully record what the panchas actually saw and heard at the time of sampling. Where a printed form is prepared in advance with a predetermined narration and merely completed and signed during the process, it does not serve as an authentic memorandum of the events witnessed by the panchas. In that situation, the document loses evidentiary reliability and cannot be treated as a proper record of the sampling proceedings.

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Issues: Whether a printed panchanama, filled up by the food inspector in advance and signed in the course of sampling, had any evidentiary value.

Analysis: A panchanama must record what the panchas actually see and hear at the time of the occurrence. Where a printed form contains a predetermined narration of the events and is merely completed by the food inspector, it does not represent an authentic memorandum of happenings witnessed by the panchas. In such circumstances, the document ceases to be a reliable record of the sampling process.

Conclusion: The printed panchanama was held to be valueless and incapable of being treated as a proper record of the sampling proceedings.

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