Horwell, J.

1. The appellant, a member of the All-India Congress Socialist Party, has been convicted by the Sessions Judge of Nellore of the offence of having delivered a seditious speech punishable under Section 124-A, Indian Penal Code. The accused had toured throughout the Andhra Desa doing pro-paganda work on behalf of his party; and the speech in question was delivered at Venkatagiri at the end of his tour.

2. Two preliminary objections have been raised with regard to the validity of the prosecution. The first point taken is that there was no proper sanction, in that His Excellency the Governor did not consult his Ministers as he was bound to do before sanctioning the prosecution and, secondly, that the prosecution was not filed in accordance with the order sanctioning the prosecution, in that the Circle Inspector who filed the complaint was not deputed by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, C.I.D., as required by the sanction order, but by the Superintendent, Special Branch, C.I.D. The second point can be briefly disposed of. The second paragraph of the order of the Government is:

The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Railways and C.I.D., is requested to depute an