SARASWATI INDUSTRIAL SYNDICATE LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellants are manufacturers of sugar, who have come before us after certification of their cases as fit for appeal to this Court under Article 133 (1) (c) of the Constitution. THEy challenged the notification dated 28-6-1967 issued by the Central Government under Clause 7 of the Sugar (Control) Order, 1966, fixing ex-factory prices for sugar factories specified in the notification. It appears that, in the Writ Petitions filed in the High Court for quashing the impugned notification and appropriate orders in the nature of Mandamus, the validity of Section 3 of the Essential Supplies Act 10 of 1955, as well as of the Sugar (Control) Order, 1966, issued under it were questioned. But, before us, the appellants have confined their arguments to contentions based on the correctness of the method adopted in fixing prices of sugar manufactured in various States, and the alleged failure of the Central Government to take into account the fact that there was an Initial fixation of prices of sugar by a notification dated 1-2-1967 followed by a final fixation on 28-6-1967. According to the appellants, appropriate adjustments or allowances should have been made in the final fixation by a notification of 28-6-1967. We are therefore, not concerned now with any question relating to the validity of clause 7 of the Sugar (Control) Order under which the notifications were issued.

(2.) THE relevant clause 7 reads as follows:

(3.) THE grievance of the appellant Saraswati Industrial Syndicate was that the Government had really divided the country into 22 zones and that it had, while doing so, taken into consideration the conversion charges on the basis of five zones putting Haryana in the same zone as Madhya Pradesh. It claimed that its efficiency as a manufacturer using modern methods was greater than that of factories in Madhya Pradesh although the wages it had to pay were higher than those paid by the Madhya Pradesh manufacturers. It was difficult for tile High Court, as it is for us, to determine these questions of fact on the meagre material or bare assertions, not subjected to cross-examination, which are available in writ proceedings decided primarily on affidavits. Nevertheless, assuming that these assertions rest on a factually correct basis, we think that a modern manufacturer of sugar, with more efficient methods of production, would gain by a fixation of price which was profitable even for less efficient manufacturers. Even if we assume that the wages of labourers were somewhat higher in Haryana than those in Madhya Pradesh, without sufficient material to be able to arrive at a definite conclusion on this matter, we think that the disadvantage to the Syndicate would be off-set by the advantage it enjoys as a producer with a more modern and efficient manufacturing technique. It is a well known fact that rationalisation of industry, by the use of modern methods, reduces the amount of labour needed in more mechanised modes of manufacture. THErefore, we do not think that these assertions could prove any inequitable treatment meted out to the Haryana manufacturers of sugar. In any case, no breach of a mandatory duty, which could justify the issue of a writ of Mandamus, was established.