2004 (4) TMI 586
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.... short the 'Code'). The State has questioned legality of latter view. Factual background in short is as follows : Respondent-accused was serving as Commercial Superintendent of the erstwhile DESU office. Proceedings under the Act were initiated against him for alleged commission of offence punishable under Sections 7, 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Act for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs. 1,500/- from a consumer Mahabir Prasad (hereinafter referred to as the 'complainant'). After trial by the Special Judge, Delhi, he was found guilty and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 20 months and a fine of Rs. 2,000/- with default stipulation for offence under Section 7 and 40 months and a fine of Rs. 2,0....
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....not be diluted by indirectly reducing the minimum sentence. By operation of Section 8 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (in short the 'General Clauses Act'), the bar as contained in the old Act clearly applies to the Act also. In response, learned counsel for the respondent-accused submitted that the High Court having invoked powers under a beneficial provision i.e. Section 360 of the Code no interference is called for while exercising jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (In short the 'Constitution'). In the absence of any bar in the Act for extending the benefits under the provisions of Probation Act provisions of the said Act could have also been applied, as has been noted by the High Court.....
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.... Act or Section 360 of the Code cannot have any precedent value being without reference to statutory bars and shall have to be treated as having been rendered per incuriam. The commission of the offending Act was on 20.1.95 by the respondent who was an employee of the Delhi Vidyut Board and by a judgment dated 8.9.99 in C.C.No.59/99, the Special Judge Delhi convicted the respondent under Section 7 of the Act and passed a sentence of 20 months RI in addition to the payment of a fine of Rs. 2,000/- with a default stipulation. Further under Section 13(2) of the Act he was also convicted and sentenced to 40 months RI, in addition to the payment of a fine of Rs. 2,000/- with a default stipulation. The claim of the respondent for extending the....
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....ction 360 of the Code is the corresponding provision to Section 562 in the Old Code. In Bishnu Deo Shaw v. State of West Bengal (AIR 1979 SC 964), this Court ruled that Section 360 of the Code re enacts in substance Section 562 of the Old Code. That apart Section 18 of the Probation Act stipulates that nothing in the said Act shall affect the provisions of Section 31 of the Reformatory Schools Act, 1897 or sub-Section (2) of Section 5 of the Old Act. This Court in the decisions reported in Isher Das vs. The State of Punjab (AIR 1972 SC 1295) and Som Nath Puri vs. State of Rajasthan (AIR 1972 SC 1490) has held specifically adverting to Section 18 that the said provision renders the Probation Act inapplicable to an offence under sub-Section (....
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....nless a different intention appears. In similar situations this Court had placed reliance upon Section 8 of the General Clauses Act to tide over the situation. In New Central Jute Mills Co. Ltd. vs. The Astt. Collector of Central Excise, Allahabad and others (AIR 1971 SC 454), this Court held it to be possible to read the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 in the place of Sea Customs Act, 1878 found mentioned in Section 12 of the Central Excise and Salt Act, 1944. In State of Bihar vs S.K. Roy (AIR 1966 SC 1995), this Court held that by virtue of Section 8 of the General Clauses Act, references to the definition of the word 'employer' in Clause (e) of Section 2 of the Indian Mines Act, 1923 made in Coal Mines Provident Fund and Bon....
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....ore vs Bahubali, (AIR 1979 SC 1271), while dealing with Rule 126-P (2) (ii) of the Defence of India Rules which prescribed a minimum sentence and Section 43 of the Defence of India Act, 1962 almost similar to the purport enshrined in Section 28 of the Act in the context of a claim for granting relief under the Probation Act, this Court observed that in cases where a specific enactment, enacted after the Probation Act prescribes a minimum sentence of imprisonment, the provisions of Probation Act cannot be invoked if the special Act contains any provision to enforce the same without reference to any other Act containing a provision, in derogation of the special enactment, there is no scope for extending the benefit of the Probation Act to the....


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