Jagdish Sahai, J. - (1.) This appeal is directed against an order of acquittal passed on 1-6-1960 by a Magistrate First Class of Kanpur. The respondent No. 1 holds a licence, for selling edible oils and runs his shop at Kanpur while respondent No. 2 is a salesman thereat. On the 21st of July, 1959, at 10-30 a. m. the Food Inspector, Kanpur, went to the shop and found respondent No. 1 Janki Prasad working there. In the shop was stored linseed oil also. The Food Inspector took 7 chs. of that oil as sample after paying 47 nP. to respondent No. 1 as the price of the sample demanded by that respondent. The Food Inspector gave a notice in writing to respondent No. 1 that the sample had been taken for analysis and in the presence of the said respondent divided the linseed oil purchased by him into three parts delivering one of it to respondent No. 1. One of the parts which like other parts was also sealed by the Food Inspector, was sent to the Public Analyst to U. P. Government for examination who found it to be highly adulterated. The respondent No. 2 admitted to be the owner of the shop and respondent No. 1 to be the salesman thereat. The respondent No. 1 also admitted that he also sells articles at the shop. The respondents were therefore prosecuted under Section 7/16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, (No. XXXVII of 1954) (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The learned Magistrate following the decision of this Court in State of U. P. v. Brij Mohan, 1960 All LJ 94 acquitted the respondents on the ground that linseed oil cannot be comprehended in the definition of 'food' given in the Act. The State has filed this appear against the order of acquittal under Section 417 Cr. P. C. The matter came up before our brother Mathur who taking the view that the decision in 1960 All LJ 94 required reconsideration, referred the whole case to a larger Bench. Thereupon the case was heard by a Division Bench consisting of our brothers Uniyal and Asthana. The Bench took the view that it was proper that the case should be heard by a Full Bench and consequently it has now come before us.
(2.) It is not in dispute that linseed oil was recovered from the possession of the respondents who had stored it for sale. The report of the Public Analyst clearly shows that the same was adulterated. Therefore if linseed oil can be covered by the definition of the word 'food' in the Act the order of acquittal passed in favour of the respondents would not be justified. The Act is an all-India Act. Before the Act was passed the various provinces or States had their separate statutes to prevent the adulteration of food. In Uttar Pradesh originally the U. P. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1912 (Act VI of 1912) was in force but it was replaced by the U. P. Pure Food Act, 1950 (Act No. XXXII of 1950). Similarly other States had their own special laws. By means of Section 25 of the Act all the State laws relating to adulteration of food stood repealed with the result that there came into existence a uniform law for the entire country. The necessity for a central legislation and a uniform law for the entire country had been felt ever since 1937 but the opportunity for enacting a central legislation was provided after the passing of the Constitution which made adulteration of food stuffs and other goods a subject for concurrent legislation. Section 2 (v) of the Act reads as follows: "2 (v) 'Food' means any article, used as food or drink for human consumption other than drugs and water and includes (a) any article which ordinarily enters into or is used in the composition or preparation of human food, and (b) any flavouring matter or condiments." Therefore in order to be 'food' an article must be one which is used as food or is an article which ordinarily enters into or is used in the composition or preparation of human food or one which is a flavouring matter or is a condiment. So far as our country is concerned linseed oil as such is not used for food but it cannot be gainsaid that it is used as a cooking medium in several parts of the country. In those parts it can be said to be used in the composition or preparation of human food. On behalf of the State our attention was invited to Volume XIV Encyclopadia Britannica XI edition, where the following is given: "Linseed formed an article of food among Greeks and Romans, and it is said that the Abyssinians at the present day eat it roasted. The oil is to same extent used for food in Russia and in parts of Poland and Hungary." Nothing is said about India therein and it has not been seriously contended that so far as our country is concerned, linseed or linseed oil as such is used as food. Linseed oil cannot therefore be comprehended in the main clause of Section 2 (v). The question which still requires consideration is whether it can be said to be an article which would be comprehended by Sub-clause (a) of Section 2 (v) of the Act. In other words, whether it is an article which ordinarily enters into or is used in the composition or preparation of human food. That it is used for such purposes in some parts of the country is not disputed. It is, however, contended that it is not so used in Uttar Pradesh and in major parts of the country. That it is not so used in Uttar Pradesh is immaterial because the Act is, as we have already said above, an all-India Act, and if linseed oil can be considered to be food in areas where it is used as a cooking medium or for other food purposes it would be deemed to be 'food' in Uttar Pradesh also. It cannot be readily assumed that though the word 'food' is comprehensive enough to include linseed oil in its ambit in some of the southern States it cannot so include it in Uttar Pradesh. The same word in a statute cannot have two different and diametrically opposite meanings in two different local areas governed by the same statute. The next question requiring investigation and determination is as to what does the word 'ordinarily' mean because in order to be 'food' within the meaning of Sub-clause (a) of Section 2 (v) of the Act the Article must be one which "ordinarily" enters into or is used in the preparation of human food. In Shorter Oxford Dictionary amongst the meanings given to the word 'ordinary' is also included : "of the usual kind; not singular, or exceptional." The meanings given to the word 'ordinarily' in that dictionary, inter alia, are : "as a matter of regular occurrence, in most cases, usually." In our opinion it is in the sense of non-exceptional or usual that the word 'ordinarily' has been used in Section 2 (v) of the Act. The word 'ordinarily' does not mean "primarily" nor does it mean "universally". It does not also mean "generally". By the use of the word 'ordinarily' the legislature intended to provide that if an article enters into or is used in the composition or preparation of human food even by some people usually and not as exception it would be deemed to be 'food'.
(3.) It has been contended that the word 'ordinarily' qualifies the words "enters into'' and not "is used" occurring in Sub-clause (a) of Section 2 (v) of the Act. In our judgment the submission is not correct. The word 'ordinarily' qualifies both "enters into" as also "is used". If the legislature intended to confine the applicability of the word 'ordinarily' only to "enters into" the clause would have read like this : "Any article which ordinarily enters into or which is used in the composition or preparation of human food." In other words if the idea was to make the word 'ordinarily' qualify only "enters into" the words 'is used" would have been preceded by the word 'which'. On a grammatical construction of the provision it is not possible to hold that the word 'ordinarily' only qualifies "enters into" and not "is used". Inasmuch as linseed oil is used in some parts of the country in the preparation. of human food would be 'food' within the meaning of Section 2 (v) of the Act. In our opinion, however, the question whether the word 'ordinarily' only qualifies the words "enters into" and not the words "is used" is not material because the use of linseed oil as a cooking medium will be fully covered even by the expression "any article which ordinarily enters into preparations of human food". For these reasons there is no difficulty in holding that linseed oil is comprehended by the definition of 'food' given in Section 2 (v) of the Act.;