TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1999 (1) TMI 539
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.... Public Analyst, Calcutta it was analysed and found to be adulterated as it did not conform to the standard prescribed for that food article and hence report was forwarded to the Local Health Authority. A complaint was thereafter filed against the respondent before the Magistrate Court concerned for the aforesaid of- fence. When respondent entered appearance he made an application to the court for sending one of the remaining parts of the sample to the Director of Central Food Laboratory and the court despatched it as prayed for. The Director of Central Food Laboratory sent a Certificate to the court specifying the result of the analysis to the effect that the food article contained in the sample conforms to the standard prescribed for com-pounded Asafoetida. Respondent thereupon move the trial court for discharging him from prosecution, but the learned Magistrate declined to do so on the premise that "the certificate of analysis issued by the Director of Central Food Laboratory was not complete as results of certain tests were not indicated therein.' Respondent then moved the High Court in revision challenging the aforesaid order of the Magistrate, learned Single Judge of t....
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.... : 4.4% And am of opinion that the sample of compound Asafoetida does not conform to the standard in respect of Alcoholic Extract. Further it contains Colophony resin and Foreign resin. Hence, it is Adulterated. Signed this 17th day of August, 1989." The Certificate of Central Food Laboratory contains the following facts : "Certified that the sample........was in a condition fit for analysis and has/have been tested analysed and that the result/results of such tests analysis are stated below : Total Ash % - 0.66 Ash Insoluble in dil. HCI % - 0.04 Alcoholic extract (with 90% alcohol) %&nb....
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....ector of Central Food Laboratory on receipt of a part of the sample sent by the court. Sub-rule (4) prescribes that "receipt of a package containing a sample for analysis the Director or an officer authorized by him, shall compare the seals on the container and the outer cover with specimen impression received separately and shall note the condition of the seal thereon." Sub-rule 5 says that after the analysis the certificate thereof shall be supplied forthwith to the sender in Form II. Section 13 of the Act contains provisions regarding report of Public Analyst as well as the Certificate of the Director of Central Food Laboratory. After institution of prosecution against the person from whom the sample of the article of food was taken (and/or the person whose name and address were disclosed under Section 14-A), the accused has the right to apply to the court to get one of the remaining parts of the sample of the food article analysed by the Central Food Laboratory. It is a right con-ferred on the aforesaid accused in order to defend the prosecution launched against him or them. For availing themselves of the aforesaid statutory right all that they have to do is to make ap....
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....the quality and standard of the food article involved in the case and it becomes irrefutable so far as the facts stated therein are concerned. If the argument of the learned counsel for the Corporation is upheld and the Certificate of the Director of Central Food Laboratory is sidelined as pleaded by him, the consequence is that there will not be anything surviving to show the quality or standard of the food articles involved in the case. Even that apart, the accused will be deprived of his statutory right to disprove the Report of the Public Analyst. The aforesaid position has been delineated by this Court in two decisions. In Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Ghisa Ram, AIR (1967) SC 970, [1967] 2 SCR 116 the Director of Central Food Laboratory reported to the court that the part of the sample sent to him became highly decomposed and hence no analysis was possible. The accused was there-upon acquitted and the acquittal was challenged on the contention that in the absence of a Certificate of the Director the Central Food Laboratory, for any reason whatsoever, the Report of the Public Analyst will stand and the court can act on it. This Court has observed that the right of th....
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....4 (Act, for short). There is an application by the petitioner seeking condonation of delay in filing this petition. Reliance has been placed on a decision of this Court in Collector, Land Acquisition, Anantnag and Anr. v. Mst. Katiji and Ors., AIR (1987) SC 1353. It was submitted that the Court should be liberal in condoning the delay. Liberal all right, but delay is inexcusable unless sufficient cause is shown. It is not the law that when an application seeking condonation of delay is filed by the State or any authority, this Court must invariably condone the delay irrespective whether sufficient cause is shown or not. In Ramlal & Ors. v. Rewa Coalfields Ltd., AIR 1962 SC 361, this Court said : "In construing s.5 of the Limitation Act it is relevant to bear in mind two important considerations. The first consideration is that the expiration of the period of limitation prescribed for making an appeal gives rise to a right in favour of the decree-holder to treat the decree as binding between the parties. In other words, when the period of limitation prescribed has expired the decree-holder has obtained a benefit under the law of limitation to treat the decree as beyond challenge,....
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....d not be filed. The Annexure P-2 to the S.L.P. was received on 15.09.98, and thereafter this S.L.P. was filed without any delay." Annexure P-2 is a report of the Central Food Laboratory dated November 2, 1989. It is not that this report was not with the petitioner. On the face of it, there appears to be no sufficient cause to condone the delay. We did not think it even necessary to issue notice on this application and dismissed the application. It is only when circumstances mentioned in the application before this Court would show sufficient cause to condone the delay that notice is required to be issued. Rule 10 of Order XVI of the Supreme Court Rules, 1966 provides that where a petition for special leave has been filed beyond the period of limitation prescribed therefore and is accom-panied by an application for condonation of delay, the Court shall not condone the delay without notice to the respondent. In Ram Lal Kapur & Sons (P) Ltd. v. Ram Nath and Ors, [1963] 2 SCR 242, a preliminary objection was raised to the hearing of the appeal by the respondent that this Court granted special leave ex parte and it should be revoked as having been improperly obtained. Application (pe....
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....as it may. With due respect to my learned brethren I think I should not express any opinion on the statement of law that if the certificate issued by the Director of Central Food Laboratory did not contain anything about those three elements it only means that the sample did not contain even a wee bit of those elements when analysis was made in the laboratory". This is how I look at the things. Under the Rules framed under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, standard of quality of compounded asafoetida which was alleged to be adulterated has been prescribed. Compounded asafoetida shall not contain : (a) Colophony resin, (b) Galbanum resin, (c) ammoniaccum resin, (d) any other foreign resin, (e) coal tar dyes, (f) mineral pigment, (g) more than 10 per cent total ash content, (h) more than 1.5 per cent ash insoluble in dilute hydrocholoric acid, (i) less than 5 per cent alocoholic extract, (with 90 per cent of alcohol) as estimated by the U.S.P. 1936 method. In the present case, while the Public Analyst analysed the article with reference to all the items aforesaid, the certificate issued by the Director of CFL did not show any testing for galban....
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.... respondent having been denied his right of obtaining the report of Director, CFL because of the delay by the appellant in launching the prosecution, the respondent could not be validly convicted. It was case where sample of curd was lifted from the shop of the respondent. This court held : "It appears to us that when a valuable right is conferred by Section 13(2) of the Act on the vendor to have the sample given to him analysed by the Director of the Central Food Laboratory, it is to be expected that the prosecution will proceed in such a manner that that right will not be denied to him. The right is a valuable one, because the certificate of the Director supersedes the report of the Public Analyst and is treated as conclusive evidence of its contents. Obviously, the right has been given to the vendor in order that, for his satisfaction and proper defence, he should be able to have the sample kept in his charge analysed by a greater expert whose certificate is to be accepted by Court as conclusive evidence. In a case where there is denial of this right on account of the deliberate conduct of the prosecution, we think that the vendor, in his trial, is so seriously prejudiced tha....