( 1 ) THIS revision petition is directed against the order dated 17/11/1981 passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ujjain in Criminal Case No. 7183 of 1981 whereby on the petitioners complaint filed on 17/7/1981 cognizance of some of the offences therein alleged has been taken against only 2 out of the 22 accused persons.

( 2 ) IT is not in controversy that the non-applicants are all connected with the Gwalior Rayon Silk Manufacturing and Weaving Company Ltd. Nagda (for short the Company ). Cognizance has been taken against the Factory Manager Kishorilal and the said company.

( 3 ) ON the date on which the complaint was filed the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (for short the Water Act) and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 (for short the Air Act) had come into force.

( 4 ) THE facts giving rise to this petition are these. The petitioner filed the complaint in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ujjain against the non-applicants and two others in respect of the offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. After inquiry under Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (for short the Code) offences under Section 277 (fouling water of public spring or reservoir), 278 (making atmosphere noxious to health) and 290 (punishment for public nuisance not otherwise provided for) have been registered against only 2 persons and not against the non- applicants.

( 5 ) ACCORDING to the complaint, the Company at its Chemical and Industrial Complex at Birlagram, Nagda manufactures staple fibre by viscose rayon process. In this process it consumes large quantity of water arid the waste water is acidic and emits odour. This water is not treated before its disposal in the nearby Kuchha Nala. The water becomes stagnant and pollutes the water sources of the area including the springs and reservoirs. This is injurious to the health and well-being of the inhabitants of the area. In the process aforesaid gases are also produced which pollute the atmosphere. The gases are poisonous and spoil the atmosphere surrounding the Nagda municipal area within the radius of 8 K. Ms.

( 6 ) IT has further been stated in the complaint that the Company has its own powerhouse which consumes large quantity of coal. The coal ashes settle in the adjoining areas and pollute the air and thereby endanger human life.

( 7 ) AGGRIEVED by the order for registering a criminal case against only some of the accused persons, the petitioner has filed the present revision petition therein contending that cognizance ought to have been taken as against all the non-applicants.

( 8 ) LEARNED counsel for the non-applicants has raised a preliminary objection to the effect that in view of the various provisions in the Water Act and the Air Act, in the absence of written sanction of the Respective State Boards, the learned trial Magistrate has no jurisdiction to take cognizance of the offences in question and the revision petition, therefore, deserves to be dismissed.

( 9 ) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner contends that at the stage at which the complaint is the non-applicants have no locus standi to so object and further that the objection is ill-founded. According to him till the process is issued against the nonapplicants under Section 204 of the Code, they have no right of hearing in respect of the complaint. It is contended that the Water Act and the Air Act, concern themselves with the Boards constituted there under and the offences under those Acts have nothing to do with the complaint of a private citizen in respect of the offences under the Indian Penal Code.

( 10 ) THE principal point for consideration is whether the preliminary objection raised by the non-applicants can be permitted to prevail.

( 11 ) I shall first deal with the controversy raised by the petitioner as to the locus stendi of the non-applicants to canvass the preliminary objection. Learned counsel for the petitioner relyi