LAWS(KER)-1968-4-15

STATE OF KERALA Vs. ANNAM

Decided On April 01, 1968
STATE OF KERALA Appellant
V/S
ANNAM Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Writ Appeal No. 30 of 1968 is by the State against the judgment 1968 KLT 223 dated February 8, 1968, of Gopalan Nambiyar, J. in O. P. No. 4134 of 1967, wherein the Kerala Rice and Paddy (Procurement by Levy) Order, 1966, and Clause.4 of the Kerala Paddy and Rice (Declaration and Requisitioning of Stocks) Order, 1966, have been held violative of constitutional provisions. The two Orders will be referred to herein below as 'the Levy Order' and 'the Declaration Order', adopting the short names used by the learned Judge.

(2.) The petitioners in the above said O. P. [a mother and son] are admittedly cultivators of paddy in 30.49 acres of land according to the State they cultivate 34.91 acres who challenged the Levy Order which compels them to sell paddy to Government on a graduated scale according to acreage against payment of price not exceeding the maximum price fixed by the Government, and the Declaration Order under which they might be compelled to declare the paddy in their possession or control and to sell it to the Government, as unconstitutional. By consent of parties, this O. P. was heard by the learned Judge, along with 720 others that challenged the above said Orders as also the Kerala Paddy (Maximum Prices) Order, 1965, and the Kerala Rice (Maximum Prices), Order, 1965, hereinafter 'the Maximum Prices Orders' on "the question of the constitutional validity of the Orders" as a "preliminary point" and by a judgment common for all the 721 O. Ps., the learned Judge has held:

(3.) The State has come up in appeal under S.5(i) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1959-1966, which reads: