A charge-sheet submitted by the police must disclose the necessary facts constituting the offence in order to enable the Magistrate to take cognizance of the case.

1. This is an application for quashing a proceeding taken against the petitioner u/s. 7 of the Essential Commodities Act (briefly the Act) pending before a Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Buxar.

2. On 2.05.1973, while the petitioner was carrying 62 bags of paddy on a bullockcart from his village home for sale to the purchasing centre of a rice mill, namely, Bishwanathji Mills, of Buxar, said to be the nearest market from his village the Project Executive Officer, Rajpur Block, seized the said foodgrains, arrested the petitioner and lodged a first information report with Rajpur Police Station.

According to the allegation made in the aforesaid first information report, the petitioner was carrying on business of purchase and sale in foodgrains without having a licence under the Bihar Food-grains Dealers Licensing Order and has, accordingly, committed an offence under Section 7 of the Act. The police registered a case under Section 7 of the Act on the basis of the said first information report and submitted a charge-sheet on 12-5-1973, a copy of which has been made Annexure 1 to the application. In the 7th column of the charge-sheet meant for stating the particulars of the offence and the circumstances connected therewith, the Investigating Officer made only a very brief statement to the effect that on investigation of the allegations made by the first informant in his written report, a case under Section 7 of the Act was established against the petitioner and, accordingly, the Police sent up the petitioner for trial.

3. On the basis of the aforesaid charge, the learned Subdivisional Magistrate, Buxar, by his order dated 23-5-1973 took cognizance against the petitioner for the offence under Section 7 of the Act and transferred the case for trial to the Court of Shri B.N. Singh, Magistrate, First Class, Buxar.

4. Mr. S.B. Sanyal appearing for the petitioner contended that the charge-sheet, on the basis of which cognizance has been taken against the petitioner, did not disclose the necessary facts constituting any offence under Section 7 of the Act and, therefore, the requirement of Sec.11 of the Act for taking cognizance of any offence punishable under the Act having been not complied with, the order taking cognizance cannot be sustained in law.

5. Sec.11 of the Act prescribes a special procedure for taking cognizance of any offence punishable under the Act and debars a Court from taking any such cognizance "except on report in writing of the facts constituting such offence made by a person who is a public servant as defined in Sec.21 of the Indian Penal, Code." It has since been well settled by a long line of judicial decisions that a charge-sheet submitted by the Police stating the facts constituting such offence will meet the requirement of this section. The Supreme Court in the case of Bhagwati Saran V/s. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1961 SC 928 = (1961 (2) Cri LJ 24) observed that this report need not contain the evidence in support of the charge. It should merely afford a basis for enabling the Magistrate to take cognizance of the case and the details which would be necessary to bring home the guilt to the accused will be details which would emerge at a later stage. The Supreme Court in the aforesaid case referred with approval to two cases; one of the Allahabad High Court in the case of Dr. N.G. Chatterji V/s. Emperor, AIR 1946 All 416 = (47 Cri LJ 876) and the other in Rachpal Singh V/s. Rex, AIR 1949 Oudh 66 = (50 Cri LJ 469) which were cases under the Defence of India Rules containing provisions analogous to Sec.11 of the Act. It was held in these cases that the requirement of Rule 130(1) of the Defence of India Rules was not complied with. As in the present case, so also in the case before the Allahabad High Court, the report only contained the following recitals:

"Prejudicial act to the interest of the public and had prejudiced the success of financial measures with a view to the efficient prosecution of the wa