Retrospective penal application barred: conviction under an uncommenced excise offence provision was set aside and retrial ordered.

A conviction cannot stand where it rests on a penal provision that was not in force on the date of the alleged offence. The text states that Section 9(2) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 had not been incorporated into the statute when the act occurred, so the guilty plea could not cure the fundamental defect of applying an inapplicable offence provision. The conviction and sentence were therefore set aside, and the matter was remitted for retrial under the law applicable at the material time.

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Issues: Whether a conviction could stand for an offence under Section 9(2) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 when that provision had not come into force on the date of the alleged offence, and whether the conviction and sentence were liable to be set aside with a retrial ordered under the law in force at the material time.

Analysis: The offence was committed before Section 9(2) was incorporated into the parent enactment by the amending legislation. A penal provision cannot be applied to conduct occurring before it became part of the statute book. The plea of guilty could not validate a conviction for an offence not then punishable under the statute. The conviction therefore suffered from a fundamental legal defect. As the matter had been tried on an inapplicable provision, the proper course was to set aside the conviction and sentence and direct a retrial under the appropriate provisions applicable on the date of the offence.

Conclusion: The conviction and sentence were set aside, and the matter was remitted for retrial under the law in force at the time of the alleged offence.

Final Conclusion: The revision succeeded to the extent of invalidating the conviction, while the proceedings were sent back for a fresh trial on the correct statutory basis.

Ratio Decidendi: A person cannot be convicted for an offence under a penal provision that was not in force when the alleged act was committed; if such a conviction is recorded, it must be set aside and the case retried under the applicable law.

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