Judgment

Fazl Ali J. - This appeal, which has been preferred after obtaining special leave to appeal from the P. C., is confined to the single question as to whether mens rea is necessary to constitute an offence under S. 81, Defence of India Rules.

2. The facts of the case are briefly these. The applt. is the licensee of two petrol filling stations Nos. 552 & 276 as Guntur but is a residents of, Chirala, 40 miles away. He is a Presidency First Class Bench Mag. at Chirala & manages what has been described as a vast business at several places. Ch. Venkatarayudu & Dadda Pichayya, his employees, were respectively in charge of the aforesaid filling stations. In 1946, the applt & his two employees were tried before the Sub-Divisional Mag. of Guntur in respect of offences under the Motor Spirit Rationing Order, 1941, & were convicted in each of the cases on 18-7-1946. In the first case, the charges against the applt. & the employee in charge of the pump in question therein were that they on 27-6-1945, at Guntur, supplied petrol to 3 cars without taking coupons, in contravention of cl. 22 read with cl. 5 of the said Order promulgated under R. 81(2), Defence of India Rules & that they, on