Chandigarh, July 21 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has upheld conviction of a city resident now, 71-year-old, who was convicted for selling adulterated cheese in 1999 in Manimajra area.However, the bench of Deepak Manchanda reduced the jail term awarded to Balbir Singh from six months to 9 days, which he had already undergone. According to the prosecution on February 18, 1999, a food inspector inspected the premises of the petitioner in Shanti Nagar, Manimajra and found him in possession of around 4 kg of cheese contained in a tray for public sale. The analyst report revealed that the milk fat in the said cheese was 40.94%, which fell short of the minimum prescribed statutory standard of 50.0% and the same was categorised under the sub-standardised goods.He was convicted in July 2004 and awarded six months jail for the offence under Section 7 (1) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. The same was challenged by him in an additional district and sessions court that upheld the conviction in 2008. Pursuant to this, he had approached the high court. He had given up plea on merits and only submission was that now the petitioner is 71 -years- old and has already closed his sweets shop way back in the year 2009 and is no longer in the same business. Due to his prolonged illness and medical condition, he is unable to work and is totally dependent on his children for his livelihood, he told the court adding that he has been on bail since 2008 and has already suffered nine days of imprisonment. The court observed that it is the constitutional duty of the government to provide the citizens of the country with such judicial infrastructure and means of access to justice so that every person is able to receive an expeditious, inexpensive and fair trial. "While considering the petitioner's prayer for reduction of sentence, this court finds that the considerable lapse of time since the commission of offence, coupled with the prolonged pendency of the proceedings, is a relevant mitigating circumstance. Further, during this period, as per the learned State counsel, the petitioner has not been involved in any other criminal case and has maintained a clean record, indicating his reformation," it observed adding that these factors deserve due weightage while determining the alteration of sentence awarded by the trial court. The court maintained the conviction but reduced the jail term to only nine days, observing that the petitioner has already faced the agony of the protracted prosecution and has suffered mental harassment for a long period of 18 years. Hence, it partly allowed the petition and reduced his jail sentence to the period he had already remained in jail....