ORDER

Thom, J. - The applicant Gajraj Singh has been convicted by the stipendiary Magistrate of Banda u/s 16, Motor Vehicles Act, and sentenced to a fine of Rs. 50 and his licence has been suspended for three months. The charge against the accused was that on 30th September 1935, he was carrying in his lorry 35 passengers which was more than the number sanctioned for his lorry by the Motor Vehicles authorities under the Motor Vehicles Act. It appears that a summons was issued against the applicant in which he was charged merely with an offence u/s 16, Motor Vehicles Act. The offence was not defined and in the summons the applicant was given no notice of the nature of the charge which was to be preferred against him. In other words, he was hauled before the Court, tried and convicted without the ordinary notice, to which every accused is entitled before being put upon trial. It appears that there is a practice in this Province to issue summons under the Motor Vehicles Act without defining the exact offence with which the accused is being charged. This is a most reprehensible practice. It has been condemned by this Court in the past. It appears that no notice has been taken of the obs