The main legal point established in the judgment is the clarification of the classification of offences under the Essential Commodities Act, emphasizing the statutory provisions and the implications of amendments in determining bailable and non-bailable offences.

( 1 ) THIS is an application under S. 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter to be referred to as 'the Code') for anticipatory bail. It relates to Crime No. 23/2001 of Police Station Multai, District Betul.

( 2 ) THE case has been registered under S. 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (hereinafter to be referred to as 'the Act') for contravention of Clause 4 (c) of the Kerosene (Restriction on Use and Fixation of Ceiling Price) Order, 1993 (hereinafter to be referred to as 'the Control Order') issued under S. 3 of the Act. Applicant-Balwant is said to have been found selling kerosene at the rate of Rs. 8. 50 per litre. According to the prosecution retail price of kerosene fixed under the Control Order was Rs. 7. 90 per litre. This offence is punishable under S. 7 (1) (a) (ii) of the Act. The punishment provided for this offence is imprisonment which may extend to seven years.

( 3 ) THE first point which has been raised on behalf of the applicant is that the offence punishable under S. 7 of the Act is bailable. Reliance has been placed on the order dated 15-10-1999 (by Hon'ble Dipak Misra, J.) in M. Cr. C. No. 6111 of 1999 - Nemchand Agrawal v. The State of M. P. and a reported decision - Dinesh Kumar Dubey v. State of M. P. , 2001 (1) MPHT 213 : (2001 Cri LJ 1309) (by Hon'ble R. S. Garg, J. ). During the course of hearing two more decisions have been cited, one dated 30-12-1999 (by Hon'ble S. S. Saraf, J.) and the other dated 20-11-2000 in M. Cr. C. No. 7681/2001 (by Hon'ble S. C. Pandey, J. ). These decisions have also taken the view that offence under S. 7 of the Act is bailable.

( 4 ) BEFORE considering the cases referred to above in detail, it is necessary to look at the statutory provisions. Section 10-A of the Act inserted by the Amending Act (No. 36 of 1967) provided that every offence punishable under the Act shall be bailable. By the Amending Act (Act No. 30 of 1974), the words "and bailable" were deleted from S. 10-A of the Act. The effect of the deletion of these words from S. 10-A was that there remained no specific provision in the Act on the point whether the offences punisable under it are bailable or non-bailable. This attracted the applicability of Schedule I - Part II "classification of offences against other laws. " A reference to this Schedule shows that if an offence is punishable with imprisonment for three years and upwards that would be "non-bailable". If the offence is punishable with imprisonment for less than three years or with fine only it would be bailable. According to S. 7 (1) of the Act if any person contravenes any Order made with reference to clause (h) or clause (i) of sub-section (2) of S. 3, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and in the case of any other order with imprisonment which may extend to seven years. The contravention of clause 4 (c) of the Control Order issued under S. 3 of the Act is punishable with imprisonment which may extend to seven years.

( 5 ) THEN came the Essential Commodities (Special Provisions) Act, 1981 (Act No. 18 of 1981) by which the words "and non-bailable" were added in S. 10-A of the Act. This amendment was not a permanent feature of the Act. It was for a specified period and it was extended from time to time. The said amendment ultimately lapsed after the expiry of the period of the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 1998 which was promulgated on 25-4-1998. As the amendment which was incorporated in 1981 has come to an end by efflux of time, the words "and non-bailable" in S. 10-A of the Act stand deleted. Therefore, S. 10-A as amended in 1974 will hold the field now. As already discussed, the offences under S. 7 (1) (a) (ii) and 7 (2) of the Act which are punishable with imprisonment for seven years are non-bailable by virtue of the provisions in Schedule I, Part II of the Code.

( 6 ) NOW the cases relied upon by the learned counsel for the applicant should be con