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[2026:RJ-JD:21706]

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT

JODHPUR

S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous (Petition) No. 3578/2026

Shobha Lal Gadri S/o Chhoga Lal, Aged About 19 Years, R/o

Chandgarh, Po Jeeva Ka Kheda, District Bhilwara, Rajasthan.

----Petitioner

Versus

1. State Of Rajasthan, Through Pp

2. The Mines And Minerals, Dept Through Aag

----Respondents

For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Shiv Kumar Bhati

Mr. Bharat Gurjar

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Vikram Singh Rajpurohit, PP

Mr. Anurag Jyani for

Mr. Mahaveer Bishnoi, AAG

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUNIL BENIWAL

Order

06/05/2026

1. The present S.B. Criminal Misc. Petition under Section 528 of

the BNSS, 2023 has been filed against the order dated 30.04.2026

passed by learned Judicial Magistrate, Kotdi, District Bhilwara,

Rajasthan, whereby the learned court below partly allowed the

application for release of vehicle i.e. tractor with trolley bearing

Chassis No. MBNAJ48AFMTB201188, seized in connection with FIR

No.84/2026 registered at Police Station Badliyas, District Bhilwara

for offences under Section 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,

2023 and Sections 4/21 of the MMDR Act, 1957.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned counsel

appearing on behalf of Mining Department jointly submit that the

controversy involved in this matter is no more res integra in view

of judgment passed by Co ordinate Bench of this Court in Chaina

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Ram Vs. State of Rajasthan (S.B. Criminal Misc. Petition

No.597/2024, decided on 19.05.2025), and the issue raised in this

criminal misc. petition being squarely covered by the ratio laid

down in the said judgment, the petition can be be disposed of in

terms of the judgment aforesaid. The relevant para of the

judgment reads as follows :-

“6. Heard learned counsel for the parties. Perused the

material available on record.

7. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and

having perused the judgments of the coordinate

Benches of this Court particularly in the cases of

Kishore Singh (supra), Narayan Gadri (supra) and

M/s Mahadev Construction (supra), this Court finds

that the controversy involved in the present batch

of criminal misc. petitions has already been set to

rest and is no longer res integra. Therefore, the

petitions in hand are to be decided in accordance

with the parameters laid down in these judgments.

8. Consequently, it is held that under the mining

laws, the state authorities have the powers for

initiating confiscation proceedings in relation to the

vehicles seized for violation of the mining laws. It

is once, the confiscation proceedings are initiated,

the vehicle cannot be released on supurdaginama

as prayed by few of the petitioners. However, the

said vehicles can only be released on payment of

penalty and compounding fees. Whereas, the

vehicles qua which no confiscation proceedings

have yet been commenced, the competent criminal

Court can handover interim custody of the vehicles

to its true owner as a criminal Court is not

supposed to keep a vehicle detained until the

confiscation proceedings are commenced and

concluded by the mining department.

9. It is however, made clear that in the cases where

criminal Court had handed over interim custody of

the vehicles to its true owners on supurdaginama,

the mining department shall be free to pass

confiscation orders and take back the vehicles in

accordance with law.

10. The present batch of criminal misc. petitions is

disposed of with liberty to the petitioners to

approach the competent Court for filing fresh

applications for release of their vehicle. The

competent Court shall decided the fresh

applications, if filed, in accordance with the

observations made by this Court in para 8 of the

judgment.

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11. All pending applications stand disposed of

accordingly.

12. A copy of this order be placed in each f