Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant :Mr. Amit Jhanji, Sr. Advocate with Ms. Jasneet Kaur, Advocate, Ms. Nikita Garg, Advocate, Ms. Himani Makkad, Advocate and Mr. Ashish Kothari, Advocate
For the Respondent: Ms. Ramta K Chaudhary, DAG, Punjab

JUDGMENT :

Jasjit Singh Bedi, J.

The prayer in the present petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is for quashing of the Criminal Complaint No.67 of 2014, dated 23.07.2014 (Annexure P-1) registered under Section 29 read with Sections 3(k)(i), 17, 18, 29 and 33 of Insecticides Act, 1968 titled as 'State through Insecticides Inspector Versus M/s Jagjit Singh & sons and others', the summoning order dated 13.01.2015 (Annexure P-2) passed by the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Patti, District Tarn Taran and all subsequent proceedings arising therefrom qua the petitioners only.

2. The brief facts of the case are that one Paramjit Kaur was the sole proprietor of M/s Jagjit Singh & Sons and held a valid license to sell, stock or exhibit for sale or distribution of insecticides issued by the competent authorities vide license no T-98/P-141/08/TT dated 01.01.2012 which was periodically renewed. The complainant/Insecticide Inspector (Patti) in his official capacity inspected the premises/shop of Paramjit Kaur i.e. M/s Jagjit Singh & Sons along with Shri Jasbir Singh Gill, Agricultural Development Officer, Block Patti and Shri Rajinder Kumar, Agricultural Sub Inspector on 04.12.2012. The stock was verified in respect of Clodinofop-Propargyl 15% WP which was manufactured by M/s Pioneer Pesticides Pvt Ltd, Samba (J&K) and it was found that there were 20 bags of 160 gms packing.

The complainant/Insecticide Inspector took 3 loose samples of 20 gms each of Clodinofop-Propargyl 15% WP bearing batch No. SPP IJ-401, with manufacturing date 30.10.2011; Expiry date 29.10.2013 and packed them in 3 different pouches and tied them with tags. Thereafter, Form XX and XXI under 1971 Rules were filled in the presence of Shri Jasbir Singh, husband of Paramjit Kaur. One of the three pouches of samples taken at the spot were handed over to the said Jasbir Singh whereas two pouches of samples were handed over to Shri Surinderpal Singh, Agricultural Development Officer (Plant Protection), Tarn Taran on 05.12.2012. Out of these two pouches, one pouch of the sample was sent to Senior Analyst, Insecticide Testing Laboratory Bhatinda vide letter no 6948 dated 10.12.2012 by the Chief Agriculture Officer, Tarn Taran through Heera Singh Beldar.

As per record, the Senior Analyst, Insecticide Laboratory Bathinda after analyzing the sample reported it to be mis-branded as it contained only 13.55% of the active ingredient content of Clodinofop-Propergyl 15 % WP Brand Topic labeled on the package from which samples were drawn with the remarks that the sample did not conform to I.S.I specification vide report dated 26.12.2012. The said report was received in the office of the complainant on 01.01.2013 leading to the filing of complaint No.67 dated 23.07.2014 and the summoning order dated 13.01.2015. The copies of the complaint dated 23.07.2014 and the summoning order dated 13.01.2015 are attached as Annexures P-1 & P-2 to the petition.

3. The learned Senior counsel for the petitioners contends that so far the petitioners were concerned, they were only the marketing company and the liability if any lay only with the manufacturer. Reliance is placed on Section 30 of the Insecticides Act, 1968 as also the judgment of this Court in the case of M/s Rallis India Limited & others Versus State of Punjab Thro Insecticide Inspector, CRM-M-20338-2017, decided on 20.04.2022. He further contends that proceedings stand quashed with respect to the dealer M/s Jagjit Singh & Sons and the authorized person namely, Parmajit Kaur vide judgment dated 05.02.2024 passed in CRM-M-10512-2015. Proceedings also stand quashed qua Kanwaljit Singh Joson, Director and responsible person of the manufacturing company vide judgment dated 07.09.2017 passed in CRM-M-19057-2016. The case of the petitioners was on a better footing than that of Kanwaljit Singh Joson who was the Director and responsible person of the manufacturing company. He, therefore, contends that the complaint (Annexure P-1) and summoning order (