The court emphasized the need for accountability in agricultural produce management, ruling that the Secretary's admission of liability necessitates a thorough investigation into the handling of seized paddy.

During the course of arguments, there was some confusion in the mind of Shri Jain and, therefore, he was directed to seek telephonic instructions from some competent authority. Accordingly, Shri Jain was directed to go outside the court room so that he can make a call to the competent authority. After two minutes, Shri Jain came back along with Shri Alok Kumar Verma who claims himself to be the Secretary of Krishi Upaj Mandi Committee, Lashkar, District Gwalior.

2. Prior to the entry of Shri Alok Kumar Verma, Shri Jain was heavily relying upon the seizure memo of paddy and it was submitted by Shri Jain that 32,683.80 quintal of paddy was found in Maa Siddheshwari Warehouse and it was repeatedly submitted by Shri Jain that this weight was recorded after physically verifying from the stack. Since this Court was not confident about the stand taken by Shri Jain with regard to physical inspection of the stack, therefore, he was directed to seek instruction from competent authority Signature Not Verified as to whether weight of 32,683.80 quintal was mentioned on the basis of physical inspection of the stack or just from register entries.

3. Since Shri Verma, Secretary, Krishi Upaj Mandi Committee, Lashkar, District Gwalior has voluntarily entered in the court room and came to the dice, therefore, this Court thought it appropriate to put questions to Shri Verma so that this Court can get proper answer.

4. By relying upon Annexure R/2, it was submitted by Shri Verma that 32,683.80 quintal of weight was mentioned after weighing only one bag and the entire stack was not physically weighed. A specific question was put to Shri Verma whether he had physically verified each and every bag to ensure that every bag which has been stored in Maa Siddheshwari Warehouse carries the same paddy which was sold by the farmers or not, then it was submitted by Shri Verma that he did not carry out the physical verification but he claimed that each and every bag is carrying the same paddy which was purchased by the warehouse owner from the farmers. This answer was repeated by Shri Verma instead of the queries raised by this Court on multiple occasions. Thus, Shri Verma has admitted his personal liability with regard to food grains which were stored in Maa Siddheshwari Warehouse. It is made clear that now in case if any shortage or deficiency in the quantity of the food grains is found, it will be the personal liability of Shri Verma also as he has stated on multiple times that each and every bag contains the same paddy which was sold by the farmers. In order to further verify the aforesaid stand of Shri Verma, this Court asked a question with regard to the total number of stacks and the height of each and every stack. However, Shri Verma was unable to give any answer.

5. Be that whatever it may.

6. Thereafter, Shri Verma was directed to point out the name of the warehouse from where the paddy was seized and when it was seized. It was submitted by Shri Verma that the paddy was seized sometimes in between 3:00 to 4:00 pm and the same was handed over to the owner of the warehouse namely Shri Mahaveer Agrawal. The inspection was done in the presence of Anil Bohhre, Assistant Sub-Inspector posted in regional office, Shri Dushyant Kaushal, Assistant Sub-Inspector posted in Krishi Upaj Mandi, Lashkar District Gwalior, Shri Manish Pandey, Assistant Grade III posted in Krishi Upaj Mandi, Lashkar, District Gwalior. When a specific question was put to Shri Verma as to why the name of warehouse from where the paddy was seized has not been mentioned in the seizure memo, then Shri Verma all of a sudden took a somersault and claimed that he was not present at the time of seizure of the paddy. He stated that he had visited Maa Siddheshwari Warehouse much after the date of seizure. He stated that he visited the warehouse sometimes in the month of March. Since the paddy was given on supardiginama to Shri Mahaveer Agrawal and even otherwise, the warehouse could not have been ope