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Writ Petition No. 1631 of 1979, decided on 7th May, 1979.
--- Ss. 3 & 7-Accused, contractor, issued 200 bags of cement for construction work entrusted to him-Accused storing same in his house-Apprehension recorded in F. I. R. that cement might be sold in black market-Definite proof not brought on record during investigation--Case neither of extraordinary nature nor any legal necessity or public interest involved-Case, held, to be tried by competent civil Court and not by a Military Court-Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 199.-[Transfer of criminal cases].
Muhammad Ashraf Azim for Petitioner.
Rashid Aziz, A. A.-G. for Respondents.
Date of hearing : 7th May 1979.
The petitioner Mian Nazir Ahmad who is a contractor of M.E.S. has been involved in a case registered against him under sections 3 and 7 of the Price Control and Prevention of the Profiteering and Hoarding Act, 1977 vide F.I.R. No. 24 of 1979 dated 15th February 1979. After the registration of the case he was arrested. He was granted bail by the learned Sessions Judge, Jhelum by his order dated 7th March 1979. According to the parawise comments submitted by the respondents as well as the police file, case was submitted to the Deputy Martial Law Administrator Headquarters Sector No. 5, Rawalpindi for pre-trial advice and according to that it was submitted before the Summary Military Court No. 20 Jhelum where it is pending adjudication. The petitioner has prayed for transfer of the case from the Military Court to the ordinary competent Court to try and dispose of the same.
According to the F. I. R. lodged by Mumtaz Ali Qureshi, City Magistrate, Jhelum he got information on 14th February 1979. that some person had stored cement bags issued by the Government, in his house situated in Mujahid Abad Colony, Jhelum. It was apprehended that be would sell that cement bags in black market. On this information the complainant alongwith the police officials raided the premises at 2-30 p.m. on the same date and found 200 bags of cement lying in a garage of the house which was locked by the Magistrate. The complain ant later on learnt that the petitioner was a Government Contractor at Mangla and was issued the cement bags in question on 7th February 1979 by the Cement Central Stock stores, The petitioner instead of taking the cement bags to the spot at Mangla stored it at his house at Jhelum. The complainant City Magistrate, Jhelum talked to Mr. Khadim Hussain, Garrison Engineer Mangla on telephone and was informed that the petitioner being a contractor could also store the cement bags at the site where the construction work was being carried out. The complainant was, however, of the view as disclosed in the F. I. R. that since the cement had been stored at his residence by the petitioner, therefore, Prima facie he was guilty of the offence under sections 3 and 7 of the aforesaid Act.
3. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has informed the Court that the aforesaid 200 bags of cement have since been released and have been used in the construction work entrusted to the petitioner at Mangla. However, according to his instructions the case registered against him is still pending adjudication be re the Summary Military Court.
4. The circumstances of the case, as discussed above, would show that the case is not of an extraordinary nature. The only apprehension as recorded in the F. I. R. was that the cement bags might be sold in black market whereas no definite proof whatsoever has beers brought on record during the investigation of the case. Since the case is not of an extraordinary nature, therefore, it should be tried by a competent Civil Court and not by the Summary Military Court. There is no legal necessity or public interest involved in the iv n circumstances of the case for its trial by the Military Court.
5. In view of the above the writ petition is hereby accepted without any order as to costs and the order if any transferring the case to the Military Court for trial purposes is hereby set aside. The case will be entrusted to the ordinary Civil Court for trial which will decide the same strictly in accordance with law.
Petition accepted.
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