LexM/S. MADAN MOHAN DAMMA MAL LTD. AND ANR. versus THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ANR.
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664 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1961] •96o that a penalty paid for an infraction of the law, even though it may involve no personal liability in the Haji Aziz f fi £ v. sense o a ne imposed or an offence committed, is Commissioner of wholly and exclusively laid for the business in the In•ome Tax sense as those words are used in the oases that have been discussed above. In our opinion, no expense Kapur J. which is paid by way of penalty for a breach of the law can be said to be an amount wholly and exclu- sively laid for the purpose of the business. The dis- tinction sought to be drawn between a personal liabi- lity and a liability of the kind now before us is not sustainable because anything done w hioh is an infrac- tion of the law and is visited with a penalty cannot on grounds of public policy be said to be a commer- cial expense for the purpose of a business or a dis- bursement made for the purposes of earning the pro- fits of such business. In our opinion the High Court rightly held that the amount claimed was not deductible and we therefore dismiss this appeal with costs. Appeal dismissed. M/S. MADAN MOHAN DAMMA MAL LTD. AND ANR. v. THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ANR. (JAFER IMAM, A. K. SARKAR and RAGHUBAR DAYAL, JJ.) Food Adulteration-Storing adulterated oil for sale-Presump- tion, rebuttal of-Calcutta Municipal Act, r95r (W.B. XXXIII of r95r), s. 462. The first appellant No. l sent a consignment of mustard oil in a tank wagon from Firozabad, U. P. to itself at Calcutta where it took delivery of the wagon from the railway authori- ties. The Food Inspector took samples of the oil from the wagon which on analysis were found to be adulterated. The appellants were prosecuted under s. 462 of the Calcutta Munici- pal Act, 1951, for storing adulterated mustard oil for sale. The 2 S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 665 appellants contended that the presumption under sub-s. (4) of r960 s. 462 that the mustard oil was stored for sale was rebutted in view of certain arrangements between the U. P. Oil Millers M/s. Madan Association and the Deputy Commissioner of Police and of a Mohan Damma letter written by the appellants to the Association asking that a Mal Ltd., sample may be taken and tested so that the appellants "may & Anoth•r take the delivery of oil only if it is found pure on analysis." v. Held, that this was not sufficient to rebut the presumption The State of West that the oil was stored for sale. The letter did not say that the Bengal & Another oil would not be sold; it was not stated as to what would be done if the oil was found to be impure. There was no arrange- ment between the Association and the Corporation which was the sole authority to take action. The arrangement and the letter were a device to make detection difficult. CRIMINAL APPELLATE . JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 118 of 1959. Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated July 2, 1957, of the Calcutta High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 101 of 1956 arising out of the judgment and order dated January 16, 1956, of the Second Court of the Municipal Magistrate, Calcutta, in case No. 208B of 1955. O. B. Aggarwala, B. B. Tawakley and B. P. Mahesk- wari, for the appellant. Nalin Chandra Bannerjee, Sunil K. Basu, S. N. Mukherjee for P. K. Bose, for the respondent No. 2. 1960. November 24. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RAGHUBAR DAYAL, J.-This is an appeal by special Raghubar leave against the order of the Calcutta High Court Dayal, J. affirming the conviction of the appellants Messrs. Madan Mohan Damma Mal Ltd., and Om Prokash Manglik, its Manager, under s. 462 of the Calcutta Municipal Act, 1951 (W. B. XXXIII of 1951) herein- after called the Act. The facts leading to this appeal are that Messrs. Madan Mohan Damma Mal Ltd., (hereinafter called appellant No. 1) sent a consignment of mustard oil, about 499 maunds in weight, from Firozabad, the place of manufacture, to itself, at Calcutta, on Decem- ber 25, 1954, in tank wagon No. 75612. This wagon was placed at the Pathuria.ghat siding at Calcutta at 666 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1961] z96o a.bout 8.45 a..m., on Ja.nua.ry 3, 1955. Dr. Nitya.nanda. Bagui, Food Inspector of the Calcutta. Corporation, M/s, Madan Mohan Damma accompanied by certain police officers, went to that Mal Ltd.. siding and took three samples of mustard oil contain- e- Another ed in this wagon, after arranging with Om Prokash v
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