RUPAK KUMARversusSTATE OF BIHAR & ANR.

                        [2014] 3 S.C.R. 568


A                         RUPAK KUMAR
                                  v.
                     STATE OF BIHAR & ANR.
              (Criminal Appeal Nos. 541-542 of 2014)

                         MARCH 04, 2014
B
              [CHANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD AND
                 PINAKI CHANDRA GHOSE, JJ.

        CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973: s.482 -
C Quashing of criminal proceedings - Food inspector found the
  articles stored for consumption of prisoners in the jail
  premises to be adulterated - Case registered against the
  Superintendent of Jail uls.16(1)(a) of Prevention of Food
  Adulteration Act, 1954 - Petition for quashing of issuance of
D summons - High Court dismissed the petition - Held: s. 7
  prohibits a person to manufacture for sale or store, sell or
  distribute any adulterated food - Contravention of s. 7 by any
  person is punishable u/s. 16 - Expression 'store' as used in s. 7
  and s. 16 means storage of adulterated article of food for sale
E - Storage of adulterated article other than for sale does not
  come within the mischief of s. 16 of the Act - Therefore,
  criminal proceedings quashed - Prevention of Food
  Adulteration Act, 1954 - s.16.

       The appellant was posted as Superintendent of
F District Jail. Food Inspector visited the jail premises and
  collected samples of various materials including Haldi and
  Rice. Those articles were stored for consumption of the
  prisoners. The Public Analyst held these samples to be
  adulterated. A case was registered against the appellant
G under Section 16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration
  Act, 1954. The Magistrate took cognizance of offence
  under Section 16(1 )(a) of the Act and directed issuance
  of process. The revision petitions thereagainst were
  dismissed. Thereafter, the appellant filed applications
H                               568
      RUPAK KUMAR v. STATE OF BIHAR & ANR.               569


 under Section 482, Cr.P.C. for quashing of proceedings.       A
 The High Court dismissed the applications. Hence, the
 instant appeals.

     Allowing the appeals, the Court

       HELD: 1. Section 7 of the Prevention of Food B
  Adulteration Act, 1954 prohibits a person to 'manufacture
  for sale' or 'store' or 'sell' or 'distribute', inter alia, any
  adulterated food. Contravention of Section 7 by any
  person is punishable under Section 16 of the Act. Section
  10 of the Act talks about the power of Food Inspector and C
  under this Section, he is empowered to take sample of
  any article of food from any person selling such article. A
  conjoint reading of provisions makes it clear that the Food
  Inspector has the power to take sample of any article of
  food from any person selling such article under sub- D
  section (1) whereas sub-section (2) confers on him the
  power to enter and inspect any place where any article of
. food is manufactured, stored or exposed for sale and take
  samples of such articles of food for analysis. Section 16
  provides for penalties. According to section 16(1), 'any E
  person, who by himself or by any other person on his
  behalf, manufactures for sale or stores or sells any
  adulterated article is liable to be punished. In the instant
  case, according to the prosecution, the appellant, a
  Superintendent of Jail, had stored Rice and Haldi and, F
  therefore, his act comes within the mischief of Section 7
  and 16 of the Act. In view of the said, what needs to be
  decided is as to whether the expression 'store' as used in
  Section 7 and Section 16 of the Act would mean storage
  simplicitor or storage for sale. Conjoint reading of Section G
  7, Section 10 and Section 16 of the Act shows that the Act
  is intended to prohibit and penalise the sale of any
  adulterated article of food. The term 'store' shall take
  colour from the context and the collocation in which it
  occurs in Section 7 and 16 of the Act. Applying the H
    570      SUPREME COURT REPORTS              [2014] 3 S.C.R.


A aforesaid principle, 'storage' of an adulterated article of
  food other than for sale does not come within the mischief
  of Section 16 of the Act. [Para 6, 7, 9) [572-H; 573-A-B; 57 4-
  8-D, H; 575-A-D]

        Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Laxmi Narain Tandon,
8
    (1976) 1  sec 546 - relied on.

      2. In the case in hand, it is not the allegation that the
  appellant had stored adulterated food article (Haldi and
  Rice) for sale. The allegations made did not constitute any
C offence and, hence, the prosecution of the appellant for
  an offence under Section 16(1)(a) of the Act would be an
  abuse of the process of the Court. The appellant's
  prosecution in both the cases is quashed. [Para 10, 11)
  [575-G-H; 576-A-B]
D
                       Case Law Reference:

          (1976) 1   sec 546     relied on             Para 9

      CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal
E No. 541-542 of 2014.

        From the Judgment & Order dated 3.1.2011 of the High
    Court of Patna in CRLM No. 15471 and 15527 of 2010.

       Nagendra Rai, Shantanu Sagar, Smarhar Singh, Gopi
F   Raman (for T. Mahipal) for the Appellant.

        Chandan Kumar (for Gopal Singh), Samii Ali Khan for the
    Respondents.

          The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
G
      CHANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD, J. 1. The petitioner is
  aggrieved by the order whereby his prayer for quashing the
  order taking cognizance under Section 16(1 )(a) of the
  Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and issuing process has
H been declined.
     RUPAK KUMAR v. STATE OF BIHAR & ANR.                      571
        [CHANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD, J.]

      2. Short facts giving rise to the present special leave         A
 petitions are that when the petitioner was posted as the
 Superintendent of District Jail, Bihar Sharif, the Food Inspector
visited the jail premises and collected samples of various
materials including Haldi and Rice. Those articles were stored
for consumption of the prisoners. The samples so collected            B
were sent for examination and analysis and, according to the
report of the Public Analyst, Haldi and Rice were not found in
conformity with the prescribed standard and, therefore, held to
be adulterated. Accordingly, two separate prosecution reports
were submitted alleging commission of an offence under                c
Section 16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
(hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). The learned Chief Judicial
Magistrate took cognizance of the offence under Section
16(1)(a) of the Act and by order dated 18th of March, 2006
directed for issuance of process in both the cases. The
                                                                      0
petitioner assailed both the orders in separate revision
applications filed before the Sessions Judge; but both were
dismissed. Thereafter, the petitioner preferred two separate
applications, being Criminal Miscellaneous No. 15527 of 2010
and Criminal Miscellaneous No. 15471 of 2010 under Section
                                                                      E
482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before the High Court;
The High Court, by the orders impugned in the present special
leave petitions, has dismissed both the criminal miscellaneous
applications. It is in these circumstances the petitioner has filed
the present special leave petitions.
                                                                      F
     3. Leave granted.

     4. Mr. Nagendra Rai, senior counsel appearing on behalf
of the appellant raises a very short point. He submits that
the appellant at the relevant time was the Superintendent of Jail     G
and food items which have been found to be adulterated were
not stored for sale but were meant for consumption of the
inmates. He submits that according to the prosecution report,
these food items were not stored for sale and, therefore, the
allegations made do not come within the mischief of Section
                                                                      H
    572          SUPREME COURT REPORTS                [2014] 3 S.C.R.

A   16(1)(a) of the Act.

          5. We have bestowed our consideration to the submission
    advanced and we find substance in the same. Section 7 of
    the Act, inter alia, prohibits manufacture and sale of certain
    articles of food, the same reads as follows:
8
          "Section 7. Prohibitions of manufacture, sale, etc. of
          certain articles of food. - No person shall himself or by
          any person on his behalf manufacture for sale, or store, sell
          or distribute-
c
           (i)     any adulterated food;

           (ii)    any misbranded food;

           (iii)   any article of food for the sale of which a licence
D                  is prescribed, except in accordance with the
                   conditions of the licence;

           (iv)    any article of food the sale of which is for the time
                   being prohibited by the Food (Health) Authority in
E                  the interest of public health;

           (v)     any article of food in contravention of any other
                   provision of this Act or of any rule made thereunder;
                   or

F          (vi)    any adulterant.

          Explanation-For the purposes of this section, a person
          shall be deemed to store any adulterated food or
          misbranded food or any article of food referred to in clause
          (iii) or clause (iv) or clause (v) if he stores such food for
G
          the manufacture therefrom of any article of food for sale."

       6. From a plain reading of the aforesaid provision, it is
  evident that Section 7 prohibits a person to 'manufacture for
  sale' or 'store' or 'sell' or 'distribute', inter alia, any adulterated
H food. Contravention of Section 7 by any person is punishable
     RUPAK KUMAR v. STATE OF BIHAR & ANR.                     57'3
        [CHANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD, J.]
under Section 16 of the Act. Section 1O of the Act talks about        A
the power of Food Inspector and under this Section, he is
empowered to take sample of any article of food from any
person selling such article. It is apt to reproduce Section 10(1)
and 10(2), which read as follows:
                                                                      B
    "Section 10. Powers of food inspectors. - (1) A Food
    Inspector shall have power-

    (a) to take samples of any article of food from-

            (i)     any person selling such article;                  c
            (ii)    any person who is in the course of conveying,
                    delivering or preparing to deliver such article
                    to a purchaser or consignee;

            (iii)   a consignee after delivery of any such article    D
                    to him; and ,

             (b)    to send such sample for analysis to the
                    public analyst for th~ local area within which
                    such sample has been taken;                       E

                    (c) with the previous approval of the Local
                    (Health) Authority having jurisdiction in the
                    local area concerned, or with the previous
                    approval of the Food (Health) Authority, to
                    prohibit the sale of any article of food in the   F
                    interest of public health.

     Explanation-For the purposes of sub-clause (iii) of clause
     (a), "consignee" does not include a person who purchases
     or receives any article of food for his.own consumption.         G

     (2) Any food inspector may enter and inspect any place
     where any article of food is manufactured, or stored for
     sale, or stored for the manufacture of any other article of
     food for sale, or exposed or exhibited for sale or where         H
    574           SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 (2014] 3 S.C.R.


A         any adulterant is manufactured or kept, and take samples
          of such article of food or adulterant for analysis:

          Provided that no sample of any article of food, being
          primary food, shall be taken under this sub-section if it is
          not intended for sale as such food."
B
        7. A conjoint reading of the aforesaid provisions makes it
  clear that the Food Inspector has the power to take sample of
  any article of food from any person selling such article under
  sub-section (1) whereas sub-section (2) confers on him the
C power to enter and inspect any place where any article of food
  is manufactured, stored or exposed for sale and take samples
  of such articles of food for analysis. Section 16 provides for
  penalties. Section 16(1)(a)(i) and 16(1)(a)(ii), which are relevant
  for .the purpose read as follows:
D
          "Section 16. Penalties. -(1) Subject to the provisions of
          sub-section (IA) if any person-

          (a) whether by himself or by any other person on his behalf,
          imports into India or manufactures for sale or stores, sells
E         or distributes any article of food-

           (i)     which is adulterated within the meaning of sub-
                   clause (m) of clause (ia) of section 2 or misbranded
                   within the meaning of clause (ix) of that section or
F                  the sale of which is prohibited under any provision
                   of this Act or any rule made thereunder or by an
                   order of the Food (Health) Authority;
           (ii)    other than an article of food referred to in sub-clause
                   (i), in contravention of any of the provisions of this
G                  Act or of any rule made thereunder ; or
                   xxx xxx         xxX'
        8. According to this section any person, who by himself or
H   by any other person on his behalf, manufactures for sale or
     RUPAK KUMAR v. STATE OF BIHAR & ANR.                   575
        ~HANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD, J.]

stores or sells any adulterated article is liable to be punished.   A

      9. In the present case, according to the prosecution, t~e
appellant, a Superintendent of Jail, had stored Rice and Haldi
and, therefore, his act comes within the mischief of Section 7
and 16 of the Act. In view of the aforesaid, what needs to be
                                                                    8
decided is as to whether the expression 'store' as used in
Section 7 and Section 16 of the Act would mean storage
simplicitor or storage for sale. We have referred to the
provisions of Section 7, Section 10 and Section 16 of the Act
and from their conjoint reading, it will appear that the Act is ,....
intended to prohibit and penalise the sale of any adulterated ...,
article of food. In our opinion, the term 'store' shall take colour
from the context and the collocation in which it occurs in Section
7 and 16 of the Act. Applying the aforesaid principle, we are
of the opinion, that 'storage' of an adulterated article of food
other than for sale does not come within the mischief of Section D
16 of the Act. In view of the authoritative pronouncement of this
Court in the case of Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Laxmi
Narain Tandon, (1976) 1 SCC 546, this submission does not
need further elaboration. In the said case it has been held as
follows:                                                            E

    "14. From a conjoint reading of the above referred
    provisions, it will be clear that the broad scheme of the Act
    is to prohibit and penalise the sale, or import, manufacture,
    storage or distribution for sale of any adulterated article F
    of food. The terms "store" and "distribute" take their colour
    from the context and the collocation of words in which they
    occur in Sections 7 and 16. "Storage" or "distribution" of
    an adulterated article of food for a purpose other than for
    sale does not fall within the mischief of this G
    section ..................... "

     10. In the case in hand, it is not the allegation that the
appellant had stored Haldi and Rice for sale. Therefore, in our
opinion, the allegations made do not constitute any offence
                                                                    H
   576     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 [2014] 3 S.C.R.
                                                     '

A and, hence, the prosecution of the appellant for an offence under
  Section 16(1)(a) of the Act shall be an abuse of the process of
  the Court.

       11. In the result we allow these appeals, set aside the
  impugned orders and quash the appellant's prosecution in both
8
  the cases.

   D.G.                                         Appeals allowed.