In Brief
Manoj and Prakash were convicted and imprisoned for unlawfully possessing government-supplied cement meant for public works, allegedly to sell it at black-market rates. The Supreme Court set aside their conviction. Although the courts found they possessed diverted government cement without lawful authority, the Court held that since cement controls were withdrawn by March 1989—before the March 1994 alleged offence—there was no valid order under the Essential Commodities Act in force when the offence occurred. Without an operative statutory order, conviction under the Act was legally impermissible. The Court noted the investigating agency should have pursued Indian Penal Code charges instead.
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