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Judgment
Justice T.R. Ramachandran Nair, J.—The petitioner is a registered owner of a lorry bearing registration No.KL-10-Q-787. It was seized on 16/03/2012 alleging unauthorised transportation of river sand by the second respondent.
Seeking for release of the vehicle by way of interim custody, the petitioner has filed Ext.P2 application. The learned Government Pleader submits that in the light of the decision of a Division Bench of this Court in Sujith Vs. State of Kerala, , now the Sub Inspector of Police will have to forward a report to the criminal court. In the said judgment in paragraph 13 the following directions have been issued:
It is hereby ordered that the revenue and police authorities, while effecting seizure, shall ensure that any revenue official effecting the seizure, notifies such seizure, also to a police official, file:////altifileserver/formatnew/For%20convert/21.06.2012/1709-2012/KE120542.txt (3 of 8)6/21/2012 9:15:26 AM file:////altifileserver/formatnew/For% 20 convert/21.06.2012/1709-2012/KE120542.txt over and above the requirement in S.22 of the Act and the Rules. That police official may effect seizure of those goods and report such seizure to the jurisdictional Magistrate in accordance with law and any police officer effecting seizure shall, apart from jurisdictional Magistrate, also place a report of such seizure before the concerned revenue authority so that action can follow through the criminal court and through the revenue authority in terms of the laws. Following the aforesaid, it is further ordered that in all pending cases, the competent police officer shall effect seizure and report the same to the jurisdictional magistrate, if not already done and the competent revenue authority shall make appropriate complaint to the jurisdictional Magistrate at the earliest. This would also enable the owners of the goods or vehicles to apply for interim custody in terms of S. 451 or 457 Cr.P.C., as the case may be. In ordering release, the Judicial Magistrate shall be guided by the terms laid down by the Full Bench of this Court in Shan Vs. State of Kerala, . The appropriate authorities shall also file:////altifileserver/formatnew/For%20convert/21.06.2012/1709-2012/KE120542.txt (5 of 8)6/21/2012 9:15:26 AM file complaints for initiating prosecution in all cases, where offences under the Act are disclosed. These directions shall apply in dealing with sand and vehicles, seized by the police or revenue authority under the provisions of the Act or the Code of Criminal Procedure, over and above the directions in Moosakoya (2008 (1) KLT 538) and Thonikkadavath Shoukathali Vs. The Tahsildar and State of Kerala, , until appropriate legislative provisions are brought in.
In view of that there will be a direction to the second respondent to furnish a report before the Judicial Magistrate of the First Class, Thirur within a period of one week from the date of production of a copy of this judgment, along with a copy of the Writ Petition by the petitioner, for enabling the petitioner to move the criminal court to seek interim custody of the vehicle.