S.R.K. Murthy vs State by the Vigilance Officer, Southern Railway, Madras

K.M. Natrajan, J.

This petition is filed to set aside the conviction and sentence awarded to the petitioner for the offence under Ss. 114(1)(a) and 120(a) of the

Indian Railways Act to pay a fine of Rs. 100/-.

The facts which are necessary for the disposal of this petition are as follows: The petitioner was prosecuted on the allegation that on 11.10.1984

at 8.15 P.M. in Coimbatore Railway Station platform the petitioner was found negotiating with one Devarajan by producing a ticket No. 52121

reserved in the name of one Gangadharan for the journey in the Nilagiris Express and exchanging the unreserved ticket No. 11733 for Madras

from Coimbatore together with a sum of Rs. 23/-. Apart from the possession of above ticket the petitioner was in possession of Ticket Nos.

11670, 11660, 11734 for journey from Coimbatore to Madras unreserved in Cochin Express together with two tickets No. 58717 reserved in the

name of M. Manoharan in ''D'' coach and 58681 in the name of one P. Sampthkumar, reserved for journey in ''G'' coach on 11.10.1984 by

Cochin Express. For the above said offence the Vigilance-Officer-PW 4 preferred a complaint against the petitioner for the offences under S.

114(1)(a)and 120(a) of the Indian Railways Act.

The trial court on the basis of the evidence before it, convicted the accused/petitioner and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment or fine of

Rs. 100/- under each of the above sections. It is only to set aside the said conviction, this petition has been filed.

According to the learned counsel Mr. V. Gopinathan, appearing for the petitioner, that the conviction for the offences under sections 114(1)(a)

and 120(a) of the Indian Railways Act is illegal and in this connection he drew the attention of this court to the relevant provisions of the Act. Per

contra, the learned counsel for the respondent Mr. A. Venugopal, contends that S.114(1)(a) of the Act, is directly applicable, but if the court feels

that the offence also conies under the category of S.120(a), S.120(a) is also attracted. For proper appreciation of the contention it is worthwhile to

refer to the various sections. u/s 114(1)(a) reads as follows:

(1) If a person, not being a railway servant or an agent authorised by the railway administration in this behalf-

(a) sells or attempts to sale any ticket or any halt of a return ticket, or

(b) parts or attempts to part with the possession of a ticket against which the reservation of a seat or berth has been made, or any half of a return

ticket, or a season ticket, in order to enable any other person to travel therewith, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term with may

which extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to two hundred and fifty rupees or with both and shall also forfeit the fare which he

may have sold or attempted to sell.

(2) If a person purchases any ticket referred to in Cl. (a) of Sub-Section (1), or obtains the possession of any ticket referred to in Cl. (b) of that

sub-section, from any other person, not being a railway servant or administration in this behalf, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term

which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to Rs. 250/-.

. . .

It is clear from the above section that if any person not being a railway servant or administration purchases any ticket or obtains the possession of

any ticket and sells any ticket or any half of a return ticket he is liable for the offence. In view of the accusation made against the which is

established by evidence he is liable u/s 114(1)(a) of the Act and the conviction cannot be said to be in any way illegal and there is no force in the

contention that Section 114(1)(a) of the Act, cannot be attracted. But as regards Section 120(a), which reads as follows:

Canvassing or hawking on a Railway:

(1) If a person canvasses for any custom or hawks or exposes for sale any article whatsoever, in any railway carriage or upon any part of a

railway, except under and in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence granted....

The above section relates to only sale of articles under a licence in any railway carriage or any part of a railway. But that will not include the tickets

when there is specific provision u/s 114(1)(a). Section 120(a) is not attracted with regard to tickets. Hence the conviction u/s 120(a) is not

sustainable.

In the result the conviction of the accused/petitioner u/s 114(1)(a) of the Act is confirmed and the conviction of the petitioner u/s 120(a) and the

sentence thereof are hereby set aside and is acquitted and the court below is directed to refund the amount of Rs. 100/- paid by the petitioner. The

petition is ordered accordingly.