“For the sake of convenience, facts in brief in Criminal Petition No.101739 of 2021 are narrated. The petitioner in the said criminal petition is an independent trader dealing with stock and distribution of food grains and claims to be in possession of a license to carry out such trade. Claiming to be on credible information, the Police Sub-Inspector of Navanagar Police Station intercepted a Baloro vehicle on an alleged complaint that the vehicle was transporting rice bags and conducted a search on the vehicle. The complainant also accompanied the Police Sub-Inspector, who conducted search or raid on the permission allegedly granted by his superior Officer. The complainant and the Police staff - panchas go to the spot at about 5 p.m. and on seeing the Baloro vehicle, intercepted the same, conducted search and secured the information that the rice bags belonged to S.K. Traders and the same were being transported from the godown belonging to S.K. Traders to one Balaji Impex Traders. Sixty five bags each weighing 50 kgs. were seized along with the vehicle on the ground that they were transporting rice illegally, which was meant for public distribution under the Public Distribution System (‘PDS’ for short). Based on the said incident, a FIR came to be registered against the petitioner. The petitioner is arrayed as accused No.3. The allegations against the petitioner are for offences punishable under Sections 7 and 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (‘the Act’ for short) read with Clauses 3(2) & (3) and 18 of the Karnataka Essential Commodities (Public Distribution System) Public Control Order 2016 (‘the Order’ for short). It is at that juncture, the petitioner has knocked the doors of this Court in this petition.
