Limitation and prior sanction under CrPC: time spent seeking sanction cannot be excluded unless the statute requires it for prosecution.

For limitation under Section 468 CrPC, time spent obtaining consent or sanction can be excluded under Section 470(3) only when the governing law makes prior consent or sanction a condition for launching the prosecution. The Gujarat HC noted that the relevant weights and measures statutes identified who may file a complaint, but did not require prior sanction for cognizance. As no statutory precondition of sanction existed, the period spent seeking it could not be excluded from limitation. The complaint was therefore time-barred and cognizance was not validly taken.

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Issues: Whether, for computing limitation under Section 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the time spent in obtaining consent or sanction could be excluded under Section 470(3) of the Code when the governing statutes did not require prior sanction for institution of the prosecution.

Analysis: Section 470(3) permits exclusion of time required for obtaining consent or sanction only where such previous consent or sanction is required by the law under which the prosecution is launched. The relevant provisions of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Act, 1985 and the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 merely prescribe who may lodge a complaint and do not make prior sanction a condition precedent for cognizance. Since no statutory requirement of prior sanction existed, the period consumed in seeking it could not be excluded while computing limitation.

Conclusion: The complaint was filed beyond the prescribed limitation and cognizance could not validly have been taken; the objection to limitation succeeded in favour of the applicants.

Ratio Decidendi: Exclusion under Section 470(3) of the Code is available only where prior consent or sanction is legally required for the institution of the prosecution; where no such requirement exists, the time spent in obtaining sanction cannot be excluded for limitation purposes.

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