STATE OF WEST BENGAL & ORS. versus CALCUTTA HARDWARE STORES AND ORS.

Citation: [1986] 1 S.C.R. 364 · Decided: 20-02-1986 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: A.P. SEN · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

364 
A 
B 
S'lA'D! OP WEST BERGAL & ORS. 
v. 
CALCDrTA llAllWARE S'l'Olll!S & ORS. 
FEBRUARY 20, 1986 
[A.P. SEN AND B,C, RAY, JJ,] 
Constitution of India - Article 226 - Ad interim exparte 
orders - Grant of - Restraint and circumspection - Necessary. 
....,.
600 metric tonnes of tin plates worth about Ila. 60 laths 
were seized frDll the respondent-firm. Prosecution wu launched -
C 
by the State Government against the respondents under ss. 7 and 
8 of the Essential eo->clities Act 1955 for violation of 
parqraph 3(2) of the West Bengal Declaration of Stocks and 
Prices of Essential ColllllOdities Order 1977 and under sa.1208 
and 420 of the Indian Penal Code 1860. Show cauae notices for 
confiscation of the seized goods were alao issued by the 
D 
Additional Collector under a.6A of the Act. 
--
E 
F 
In the Writ Petition under Article 226 before the High 
Court the respondents moved an application for release of the 
seized goods which wu rejected by a Single Judge. In appeal 
the Divi•ion Bench set aside the interlocutory order of the 
Single Judge and directed the release of the seized goods to 
the respondent• on their furnishing of a bank guarantee of 
lla.5 laldla in the form of fixed deposit recepits and also on 
furnishing sec1irity of illllovable property being O. 71 acre of 
land aituate at Police Station Titaghur District 24 pargana. 
Allowing the appeal of the State to this Court, 
lllU>i 1. Although the powers of the High Court under 
Art.226 are far and wide and the Judges mat ever be vigilant 
to protect the citizens against arbitrary executive action, 
noaetheleH, 
the 
Judges 
have 
a 
constructive 
role 
and 
G 
therefore, there is always the need to use such extensive 
powers with due circumpection. There has to be in the larger 
public interest an element of self-ordained restraint. It was 
diatresaing that despite a long line of decisions of Supreme 
Court 
deprecating 
the 
cursory 
manner 
of 
passing 
suc11it-
interlocutory orders for the mere asking, the High Court -
H 
STATE v, CALCllTrA llARIMARE· STORES 
365 
should have passed the impugned order in the 1118111U!r that it 
did. [370 C-ll; 367 ~] 
2. 'lbe sd interf.a order of the Division llem:h of the 
High Court was illegal and invalid. The result of the order 
A 
was that the respondents under threat of contempt secured 
B 
release of valuable seized uterial practically furnishing 
little or uo security. The observations of the Division Bench 
which bad the effect of prejudgiug the whole issue before the 
Siugle Judge who 'IJU seized of the wr-it petitiou, as alao 
foreclosiug the trial of the respondents for c:omieaiou of the 
alleged offences bad also uo legality and propriety. [367 C; 
367 G-H; 368 A] 
C 
Sillgari Jtmidpa\tcy • on. v. Au'lmdn ·nu • On., 
[1984] 2 s.c.c. 436; Aaaiatant Collector of Central l:a;ia, 
Chndn lqar lfeat lleDgal v. llllll1op India r.t. ·Ltd. • Ora., 
[1985) 1 S.C.C. 260; State of lajatlum ' Ora. Vo '8/a. llllaika 
l'l:CljleA"tiea & Anr., [1985) 3 S.C,C. 217; Sil:lgari JtmlcfpaJity, 
D 
ntaaimr hper llil1a eo. Ltd. v. State of 0r1ua. [1983) 
2 
s.c.c. 433; lJaion of India •· OnaJ. lfoellen ll11l8 Ltd., 
[1984) 2 S.C.C. 646; IJaion of India v. Jain Slmdh V_,at.i 
Ltd., C,A.No. 11450/PJ and 9-ria Tndfng Co. Pwt. I.td. •• . 
S. Saoiael, [1984] 4 s.c.c. 666; relied upon. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 627 of 
1986, 
From the Judgment and Order dated 11th December, 1985 of 
the Calcutta High Court in F.M.A.T. No. 4053 of 1985, 
D.N. Mukherjee and H.K. Puri for the Appellants. 
Bhola Nath Sen, Bhasker Sen, B.P. Singh, v. Sheker, S, 
Roy and L.P. Agarwala for the Respondents. 
The Order of the Court was delivered by 
SEN, J. We had allowed the appeal at the conclus.ion of 
hearing of January 31, 1986. We now proceed to give the 
reasons therefor. 
In this appeal by special leave the short point is as to 
the legality and propriety of an ad-interim order dated 
E 
F 
G 
H 
A 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
366 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1986] l s.c.R. 
December ll, 1985 passed by a Division Bench of the Calcutta 
High Court consistiug ·of R.N. Pyne and Aj it Kumar Sen Gupta, 
JJ, setting aside an interlocutory order of Padma Khastgir, J, 
dated November 6, 1985, By the impugned order, the learned 
Judges have directed the release to the respondents of more or 
less 600 metric tonnes of tin plates which, according to the 
State Government, are worth nearly about Rs,60 lakhs, seized 
from them for alleged contraventio

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