S ANTHONY MUTHU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question involved in these writ petitions is the same; and the petitions can, therefore, be disposed of by a common judgment.

(2.) The petitioners are all owners of power crushers for crushing Sugarcane; and they are working their power crushers within the reserved areas of three sugar mills in the State, one in Chittoor Taluk, another in Tiruvalla Taluk and the third one at Pandalam. The Government of India passed the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 in exercise of the powers conferred on it by S.3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Under Clause.11 of the said Order, the Central Government has power, by notification in the Official Gazette, to delegate some or all the powers under the Order, inter alia, to a State Government; and by a notification dated 16th July 1966, the Central Government delegated its powers under clauses (6), (7), (8) and (9) to the State Governments including the State Government of Kerala. The Government of Kerala thereafter issued a notification in 1968,another notification on 20th January 1969 and yet another notification on 6th January 1972, We are concerned only with the latter two notifications, viz., the notification of 20th January 1969 and the notification of 6th January 1972. Clause.3 of the notification of 1969, called the Kerala Power Crushers, Khandsari Unit and Crushers' Licensing Order, 1969, read

(3.) Two contentions have been urged by Sri. T. Chandrasekhara Menon, the counsel of the petitioners in one of the writ petitions, namely, that the amended Clause.3 is beyond the powers of the State Government, since it is beyond the scope of the powers delegated to the State Governments under Clause.6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Sugarcane (Control) Order; and that, in any event, the amended provision violates the fundamental right of the petitioners under Art.19(1)(g) of the Constitution. We shall first take up the first contention.