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1981 Supreme(AP) 179

Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : A.GANGADHARA RAO
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. - Appellant
Versus
State OF A.P. - Respondent
Crl.R.C.No.268/81
Decided On : 08-10-81
Advocates Appeared :
.

Headnote:CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE, 451 and 457 - Withholding certain material belonging to complainant by the accused - Custody of goods delivered to complainant on execution of a bond - Complaint against accused for criminal breach of trust - Charge sheet not filed - Petition by complainant before Magistrate for permission or utilise the material even before the trial of the case - Magistrate has power to order the petition

       Held: It is true that under Section 451 CrPC, when any property is produced before the Criminal Court during an enquiry or trial, the Court may make such order as it thinks fit for the proper custody of such property pending the conclusion of the enquiry or trial and, if the property is subject 10 speedy and natural decay, or if it is otherwise expedient so to do, the Court may after recording such evidence as it thinks necessary, order it to be sold or otherwise disposed of Under Section 457 CrPC whenever the seizure of property by any Police Officer is reported to a Magistrate under the provisions of the code, and such property is not produced before a Criminal Court during an enquiry or trial, the Magistrate may make such order as he thinks fit respecting the disposal of such property or the delivery of such property to the person entitled to the possession thereof, on such conditions if any as he thinks fit

       Since in this case the charge sheet has not been so far filed, there is no inquiry or trial pending and, therefore, orders could not be passed under Sec451 CrPC The Magistrate could pass an order directing the delivery of the property to the petitioner Company under Section 457(1) CrPC,

       CRl RC ALLOWED

A. GANGADHARA RAO, J.

( 1 ) THIS revision is filed by the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Ramachandrapuram, to set aside the order passed by the Munsif-Magistrate, Sangareddy, in Crl. M. P. No. 156 of 1981.

( 2 ) THE second respondent, Messrs South Eastern Roadways, Hyderabad, were entrusted to transport 28 (7 + 5 + 11 + 5) seamless steel pipers, 2 cooling coils, 5 laddles and 4 cable drums and deliver them to the petitioners Company at Ramachandrapuram. The case of the petitioner is that, instead of delivering them, the second respondent retained them with him with an ulterior motive, and thus committed criminal breach of trust. Consequently, report was given at the police station, Ramachandrapuram, and a case was registered under Section 407 of the Indian Penal Code, against the 2nd respondent.

( 3 ) THE petitioner submits that the abovementioned items are necessary for use in the day-to-day manufacture of the company. The company cannot get these materials in the open market in this country. Many of them are imported and scarce items. They are immediately required for manufacture of components for the Thermal Power Stations. Due to heavy demand of power and expansion of power stations by the Central and various State Government, these components are required to improve the power generation in the country. It is further submitted that the absence of raw materials will result in retrenchment of the employees, and will cause heavy loss to the public sector industry amounting to national loss. It is stated that there is no dispute about the ownership and the entrustment of the above materials to the 2nd respondent and he is withholding them on the ground that he had to get some excess amount, more than the agreed amount. It is also submitted that this property is not required for identification. Therefore, the petition was filed by the petitioner to permit them to utilise the above material even before the trial of the case.

( 4 ) THE 2nd respondent filed a counter stating that as per the agreement the petitioner had to deposit certain amounts in the Bank and it was only after depositing the amounts, the petitioner could taken the delivery and he had failed to deposit the amount in the Bank. It was further stated that the charge-sheet is not filed so far and under Section 451 Cr. P. C. , only interim custody could be given and the goods could not be finally disposed of.

( 5 ) THE learned Magistrate in his order dated 3/04/1981 held that if the property was kept unutilised during the pendency of the trial it would definitely result in loss to the Company as well as to the Nation. He also held that he was satisfied that the property is subject to natural decay which would ultimately result in loss to the company as well as to the Nation. But he found that under Section 451 Cr. P. C. , he could dispose of the proper after recording some evidence during the pendency of the trial and since in this case no charge-sheet has been filed, the petition is premature. In the result he closed the petition without pronouncing any final ode with an observation that the petitioner should wait till the stage of recording of evidence is reached.

( 6 ) IN this revision it is submitted by the learned counsel of the petitioner that it is a scarce material which has been imported by the petitioner-company for utilising in power generation and if it is not immediately used, besides going rusty, it will also cause great loss to the company as well as to the Nation, for, the petitioner-company manufactures power generation sets in the country. It was further submitted that there is no dispute with regard to the ownership or identity of property, that the second respondent is only claiming a lien for his transportation charges, that the Magistrate him self found that if the properly is kept unutilised it would definitely cause loss to the company as well as to the Nation, and that under Section 457 Cr. P. C. , the Magistrate should have delivered the go














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