Rajendra Chandra Singh Samant, J.

This appeal has been preferred against the judgement of conviction and order of sentence dated 11-04-2000 passed by Special Judge, Raipur, District Raipur in Special Criminal Case No.05 of 1998 convicting the appellants for offence punishable under Section 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act (for short 'E.C. Act') and sentencing them to undergo RI for 4 months and to pay fine of Rs.250/- each with default stipulation.

2. Case of the prosecution in brief is that Food Inspector Ram Kishore Shukla (PW-1) along with Food Inspector T.R. Deshmukh (PW-4) conducted inspection of the shop styled as Ghanshyam Traders on 20-01-1998 in the village Kandel. Appellant No.1 was found present in the shop. On inspection, 20 bags of Swarna Paddy were found inside the shop and 19 bags were kept stored in the verandah of the shop. It was told by appellant No.1 that the paddy was purchased from villagers. It was also stated by appellant No.1 that the purchase and sale of paddy was made from their shop. Further, balance and measuring weights were also found. The inspection panchnama (Ex. P-3) was recorded on the spot. The articles i.e. bags of paddy, measuring w