VIJAY KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By the first two prayers in this petition, the petitioners are challenging the validity of Notification dated 28-2-83 issued by the Central Government under Section 2 (a) (xi) of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 declaring seeds specified therein as essential commodities for the purpose of the said Act and the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983 issued by the Central Government under Section 3 of the said Act on the ground that they are unconstitutional, ultra vires and illegal. There is a third prayer for declaring that Entry 33 of the List III to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India does not empower either the Union Legislature or the State Legislature to make laws in respect of "seeds". In fact, the third prayer is the crux of the argument of the petitioner.

(2.) The very same prayers and the contentions were raised by some persons in writ petitions filed in this Court in 1984 and in some High Courts. The cases filed in the High Courts were transferred to this Court and heard along with the writ petitions filed in this Court. By judgment dated 28-10-93, a Bench of two Judges upheld the validity of the Notification and the order and dismissed the petitions and transferred cases, vide Raghu Seeds and Farms v. Union of India, (1994) 1 SCC 278 . The petitioners who were probably waiting for over ten years for the result in the said cases filed this writ petition in May 1994. In fact the petitioners filed Writ Petition (Civil) No. 303 of 1994 containing a prayer to declare the judgment of this Court to be invalid. However, they withdrew it on 25-4-94 stating that they would file a properly drafted writ petition.

(3.) The Notification of Central Government dated 24-2-83 reads thus: