M. K. Mukherjee, J. - (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The appellant No. 2, a District Co-operative Officer of Vadodara has lodged a prosecution against the two respondents under Section 147 (1) (d) of the Gujarat Coperative Societies Act, 1961 ('Act' for short) for committing breach of Section 71 of the Act after obtaining sanction of the District Registrar as required under Section 149 (3) thereof. The prosecution is also for certain offences under the Indian Penal Code. Aggrieved thereby the respondents moved the High Court by filing a petition under Section 482, Cr. P.C. In disposing of the petition the High Court observed that a sanction under Section 149(3) for prosecution under Section 147(1)(d) cannot be given without giving the party concerned a prior hearing. Since, admittedly, the respondents were not given such hearing, the High Court directed that the complaint relating to the above offence shall not proceed till notice to the respondents were given and sanction was accorded after hearing them. However, it clarified, the complaint for the remaining offences shall, in no way be affected by its order and shall be proceeded with in accordance with law. The direction of the High Court so far as it relates to the prosecution under the Act is under challenge in this appeal.
(3.) To appreciate the reasoning of the High Court for issuing the impugned direction it will be necessary to reproduce Section 149(3) of the Act. It reads as under: "149 Cognizance of offences - (1) ********** (1) ********** (3) No prosecution under this Act shall be lodged, except with the previous sanction of the State Government in the case of an offence under Clause (c) of sub-section (1) of Section 147, and of the Registrar in the case of any other offence under this Act. Such sanction shall not be given, except after hearing the party concerned, by an officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government by a general or special order." From a plain reading of the first part of the above sub-section it is manifest that for lodging prosecution for an offence under the Act previous sanction is essential. While for the offence under Section 147(1)(c) the sanctioning authority is the State Government, for all other offences it is the Registrar. When the words "such sanction shall not be given" appearing at the beginning of the second part is read in juxtaposition with the words "by an officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government by a general or special order" at the end, it is also manifest that hearing is to be given only if a sanction for prosecution under Section 147(1) (c) is contemplated and not otherwise.;