1980 (8) TMI 198

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....cused person on a complaint filed by the Excise Department alleging that they had committed an offence under section 9(l)(bb) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, (hereinafter referred to as the Central Excise Act) read with Rule 151 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 (hereinafter referred to as the Excise Rules) by avoiding the payment of duty that was leviable to the extent not exceeding 1 lac of rupees and were liable to punishment under section 9(l)(ii) of the Central Excise Act. 3. The punishment provided under section 9(1)(ii) of the Central Excise Act is imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years or fine or both. 4. The trial Court held summary trials and on a plea of guilty by the accused persons in the respective cases convicted the respective accused persons and sentenced them to a fins of Rs. 260 each or in default to suffer imprisonment for a period of one month (nature of imprisonment whether simple or rigorous has not been clarified), vide its respective impugned judgments. 5. The Union Government (hereinafter referred to as 'the appellant') has filed the aforesaid appeals against the respective impugned judgments of the trial Cou....

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....proceedings shall be void." In view of the forequoted section 461 of the Code, it is transparently clear that as the trial Magistrate was not empowered to try the respondents for the alleged offence summarily, the trials held by the trial Court are absolutely void. 10. If now advert to the section 386 of the Code which deals with the powers of the appellate Court. Clause (c) (i) of this section provides that in an appeal for enhancement of sentence, the Appellate Court is competent to reverse the finding and sentence and acquit or discharge the accused or order him to be re-tried by a Court competent to try the offence. In view of my holding that the trial Court being not empowered to try the accused persons in respect of the alleged offence summarily and thus summary trials held by the trial Court are void, the proper course is to exercise the powers under section 386 of the Code, clause (c) (i) and send the cases for re-trial. 11. In the light of the foregoing discussion, I hold that the trials held in the aforesaid cases are void. I, therefore, set aside the impugned judgments of the trial Court as also the order of conviction and sentences recorded against th....

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.... by the prosecution, the trial Court ought to have proceeded with the trial in accordance with law and recorded the plea of guilty following the procedure provided in Chapter XIX of the Code, provided for the warrant trial. 15. At this stage, I would quote with advantage a portion of the head note of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Kachhia Patel Shantilal Koderlal v. State of Gujarat and another [(1980) 3 S.C.C. 121] : "The course followed by the Magistrate showed that there was no application of mind by him to the case laid on behalf of the prosecution and he was a consenting party to the appellant being persuaded to enter the plea of guilty. It is contrary to public policy to allow a conviction to be recorded against an accused by inducing him to confess to a plea of guilty on an allurement being held out to him that if he enters a plea of guilty, he will be let off very lightly. Such a procedure would be clearly unreasonable, unfair and unjust and would be violative of the new activist dimension of Article 21 of the Constitution. It would have the effect polluting the pure fount of justice, because it might induce an innocent accused to plead guilty to suffer a l....

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....¤¾à¤¨ अभिभाषक का कहना है कि वह अपने आवेदन पत्र जो न्यायालय में पेश किया है उस पर बहस नहीं करना चाहते । अभियुक्तगण गुजरात के रहने वाले हैं। केन्द्रीय भाबकारी विभाग से पूर्व में ही पर्यदंड हो चुका है इसलिए न्यायालय से भी निपटना चाहता à....