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Civil Petition for Special Leave to Appeal No. 418 of 1978, decided on 19th July 1978.
(On appeal from the judgment dated 28th May 1978 of the Lahore High Court passed in Writ Petition No. 2710 of 1978).
Constitution of Pakistan (1973)--
‑‑ Art. 185(3)‑Special Leave to Appeal‑Petitioner accused of illegally storing kerosene oil and carrying on trade without prescribed licence‑ Case at intermediary stage‑Investigation completed, formal challan submitted and case complete for trial by Summary Military Court Points raised by petitioner capable of being appropriately raised before Military Court seized of matter‑Petition found without force and dismissed.
Tanvir Ahmad Khan, Advocate Supreme Court and Ejaz Ahmad Khan, Advocate‑on Record for Petitioner.
Nemo for the State
Date of hearing : 19th July 1978.
.‑This petition for leave to appeal arises out of the order dated 28‑5‑1978 of the Lahore High Court dismissing, in limine, Writ Petition No. 2710 of 1978.
On receiving a report that oil was illegally stored in New Timber Market, Lahore, respondent No. 3, in the company, amongst others, of respondent No. 2, a local Magistrate, vent to the premises and discovered an underground oil storage tank containing kerosene oil and several drums full of oil in the courtyard. No licence for carrying on this trade, as required by law, could be produced by Khalid Baig, who was present at the premises. The first information report was, accordingly, registered under M. L. R. 30 at the instance of respondent No. 1. A writ petition was filed by the petitioner in the High Court challenging the registration of the case against him, on the ground that the F. I. R. disclosed no offence against him and that the agency duly licensed was in the name of his brother Younas Baig and that he had nothing to do with the storage of kerosene oil. With the writ petition the licence was not attached, but a receipt for payment of some fee was enclosed. It is in the name of one Bashir son of Buta, and the petitioner shifted, his stand from being an agent to a partner, namely Bashir.
The learned Judge in the High Court took notice of these inconsistencies and contradictions and dismissed the writ petition. It was held that the report was lodged by a Magistrate, the accused had already been arrested and during the investigation the analysis of the kerosene oil had yet to take place and there was no justification for interference with the investigation or registration of the case at this intermediary stage.
The petitioner bas now moved this Court for grant of special leave to appeal.
In support of this petition the ground taken before the High Court, namely, that the first information report disclosed no offence under M. L. R. 30 has been reiterated. It is submitted that the petitioner has, by not keeping a licence for the petroleum trade merely violated a fiscal law and his prosecution under M. L. R. 30 is not warranted.
We observe that the case is at an intermediary stage. The investigation has, by now, been completed and the formal challan been submitted, and the case is now complete for trial by a Summary Military Court. The points raised by the petitioner can, therefore, appropriately be raised before the military Court, which is now seized of the matter. The petitioner's writ petition was rightly dismissed by the High Court on the ground that it was not competent at that stage. We also find no force in this petition, which is, accordingly, hereby dismissed.
Petition dismissed.
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