( 1 ) TWO petitioners, Sudhanshu Bhusan Pal and Bhagat Singh make this application under Article 226 of the Constitution challenging the order charging them in the criminal case and prosecution under Sections 7 and 8 of the Essential Commodities Act dated the 5th January, 1958.

( 2 ) THE petitioners obtained this Rule on the 10th December, 1958 and even a stay of the pending criminal proceedings. There was no order for expeditious hearing of this application. The result is that the criminal proceedings have remained stayed for these long four years. Such a prolonged stay of a pending criminal case through the process of Article 226 of the Constitution is in many cases calamitous for the ultimate prosecution because by the time when the application ultimately fails, the long stay has practically wiped out in many cases important, relevant and irreplaceable evidence on which the prosecution was launched and on which prosecution depended. The sections of the Criminal Procedure Code could easily have been invoked by the petitioners for determination of the point which they seek by this application under Article 226 of the Constitution. In fact the petitioners befor