JUDGMENT

P. Venkatarama Reddi, J.-The appellants herein were convicted under Section 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ) and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1 lakh. The appellant in Criminal Appeal No. 1144 of 2003, namely, Phuman Singh was also convicted under Section 307 IPC for firing a shot from his pistol at the police party and on that count, sentenced to undergo imprisonment for your years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. The trial Court however acquitted Phuman Singh for the charge under Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act on the ground that the sanction of the District Magistrate has not been duly proved by the prosecution. Aggrieved by the same, the appellants preferred appeals in the High Court of Punjab & Haryana. The appeals were dismissed by the impugned judgment which is somewhat cryptic.

2. The prosecution case is as follows :

During the early hours of 2nd August, 1987, Inspector Sukhdev Singh (PW 1) - Station House Officer, Jalalabad P.S. received a telephonic message from the Commandant, BSF, Jalalabad that a special