Rama Nand Chauhan vs State of Punjab and Others

Mehinder Singh Sullar, J.—The compendium of the facts and material, culminating in the commencement, relevant for disposal of the instant

petition and emanating from the record is that, on 24.08.2011 in pursuance of a search, 76 bags of poppy husk and 25 Bull Gears of Railway

were recovered from the Canter bearing registration No. PB-11AK-3912, without any permit or licence and taken into possession by the police.

Consequently, a criminal case was registered against the accused by means of FIR No. 79 dated 24.08.2011, on accusation of having committed

the offence punishable under Sections 15, 25, 29/ 61/ 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985(hereinafter to be referred

as ""the NDPS Act""), by the police of Police Station Sadar, Ludhiana. Thereafter, the petitioner moved an application to release 25 Bull Gears of

Railway on superdari. The application was allowed with certain conditions by the Additional Sessions Judge, by way of impugned order dated

30.09.2011.

Aggrieved thereby, the petitioner preferred the present petition, to challenge the imposed conditions in the impugned order, invoking the

provisions of Section 482 Cr. P.C.

After hearing the Learned Counsel for the parties, going through the record with their valuable assistance and after deep consideration of the

entire matter, to my mind, there is no merit in the instant petition in this context.

Ex facie, the argument of the Learned Counsel that since, the Court has imposed stringent and arbitrary conditions, to release the articles on

superdari, so the impugned order deserves to be modified, is not only devoid of merit but misplaced as well.

As is evident from the record that, in the wake of search, 76 bags of poppy husk and 25 Bull Gears of Railway were recovered from the

Canter, in question, and a criminal case was registered against the accused. On the application filed by the petitioner, the trial Judge released the

case property on superdari to the petitioner, by virtue of impugned order dated 30.09.2011, the operative part of which is as under:-

In view of the report of local police, the application is allowed and 25 bull gears of Railway WDG 3A which were taken into police possession in

this case are ordered to be released to the applicant on superdari on furnishing superdari bonds in the sum of Rs. 26 lacs with one surety of the like

amount subject to the condition that the applicant shall not sell or dispose of these articles without prior permission of the court and shall produce in

the court on each and every date of hearing and will not change its identifiable feature and with further direction to the SHO, P.S. Sudhar, to take

photographs of these articles before its release. Superdari bonds not furnished.

Learned counsel for the petitioner could not point out any reason/ground, much less cogent, to impugn the impugned order. Meaning thereby,

the Additional Sessions Judge has recorded the cogent grounds in this respect. Such order, containing the valid reasons, cannot legally be set

aside, in exercise of jurisdiction u/s 482 Cr.P.C., unless the same is perverse and without jurisdiction. Since, no such patent illegality or legal

infirmity has been pointed out by the Learned Counsel for the petitioner, so, the impugned order dated 30.09.2011 deserves to be and is hereby

maintained in the obtaining circumstances of the case. In the light of aforesaid reasons, as there is no merit, therefore, the instant petition is hereby

dismissed as such.