Judgment

MUDHOLKAR, J. : The State of Andhra Pradesh has come up in appeal against the order passed in revision by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh quashing the charges framed against nine persons by Mr. Syed Firasth Hussain, Special Judge, Vijayawada. The revision petition was preferred by only two of those persons.

2. The accused No. 1 Parthasarathi who was a lower division clerk in the Central Excise Circle at Narasaraopet was in charge of the T. P. 1 permit books (transport permit) intended for issue to Central Excise Officers for granting permits to persons applying bona fide for licences to transport tobacco. According to the prosecution two of those books containing 25 permit forms each were found missing from the aforesaid office. The allegation is that Parthasarathi sold those books to the remaining accused for a consideration of Rs. 400. It was found during the investigation that seven permit forms from out of these books had been used for transport of non-duty paid tobacco after blanks in those forms had been filed and the signatures of certain Central Excise Officers forged on them. Further, according to the prosecution, accused Nos. 2 to 8 got authorisation letters prepa