KRISHI UTPADAN MANDI SAMITI Vs. VED RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave calls in question the correctness of an order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad whereby Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 58900 of 2007 filed by the respondent-company has been allowed, the order passed by the Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Ghaziabad and that passed by the Deputy Director, Rajya Krishi Utpadan Mandi Parishad, Meerut in revision set aside. The High Court has further directed the Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Ghaziabad to make a fresh assessment of the market fee for the period in question after providing an opportunity of being heard to the writpetitioner or his authorised agent. The challenge arises in the following factual backdrop.

(2.) On behalf of the appellant-Samiti it was argued by Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, learned senior counsel, that the observations made by the High Court regarding the capacity of the officers to understand and effectively determine the contentious issues that arose for determination was wholly unjustified. He submitted that instead of finding fault with the capacity of the officers to understand the issues, the High Court would have done better in pointing out the errors committed by the authorities below in either appreciating the law or applying the same to the facts of the case at hand. He urged that the officers had appreciated the evidence adduced by the respondent properly and were well within their powers to reject the same for reasons which they had set out in their respective orders. So long as there was no perversity in the approach adopted by the Samiti and the Deputy Director in appreciating evidence and/or the application of principles of law to the facts of the case, the mere fact that those officers were not formally trained in law was no reason to dub them as incompetent or incapable, especially when any such training was no guarantee against commission of mistakes.

(3.) It was further argued that the High Court had completely overlooked the fact that the respondentcompany had, in complete breach of the directions and procedure sanctioned by the orders passed by this Court, removed the stock of ghee without the requisite gate passes necessary for such removal. The High Court had also committed an error in evolving a procedure which was different from the one that was stipulated by this Court in Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti and Ors. v. Shree Mahalaxmi Sugar Works and Ors., 1995 Supp3 SCC 433 and Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti v. M/s Saraswati Cane Crusher & Co. & Ors. (Civil Appeal Nos. 1769- 1773 of 1998) decided on 25 th March, 1998. Mr. Sudhir Chandra appearing for the respondent supported the order passed by the High Court and prayed for dismissal of this appeal.