SILVER CLOUD TEA FACTORY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Messrs. Silver Cloud Tea Factory, a partnership firm, is the petitioner in W. P. 10110 of 1984 and 1493 of 1985. The petitioner in W. P. 2151 of 1985 is carrying on business as a retail dealer in tea dealing exclusively with that commodity supplied by Messrs. Silver Cloud Tea factory. In W. P. 10110 of 1984, the petitioner has prayed for the issue of a writ of declaration that the Tea (Marketing) Control Order, 1984 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Order') dt.19-4-1984 is unconstitutional and ultra vires. However, in W. P. 1493 of 1985, the petitioner has prayed for quashing of the order of the second respondent therein dt. 21-8-1984 and to direct him to grant relaxation to the petitioner. In so far as the W. P. 2151 of 1985 is concerned, the petitioner therein has prayed for a writ of declaration that Cl.17 of the Order dt.19-4-1984 is void and inoperative.

(2.) The petitioner in W. P. 10110 of 1984, and 1493 of 1985, namely Messrs. Silver Cloud Tea Factory, applied to the Chairman of the Tea Board, Calcutta, which has been constituted the Registering authority for purposes of Cl.17 of the Order under Cl.2(j) thereof, on 11-7-1984, that it should be given the benefit of relaxation under the proviso to Cl.17 of the Order from selling any tea through public auctions, as according to it, it had been selling tea directly in organised private outlets for several years past and if the provision of Cl. 17 of the Order to sell 70 per cent through public auction is applied, it will totally dislocate the entire organisation and would also result in the business built up with considerable effort, expense and sacrifice over several years being adversely affected. On 21-8-1984, the application for relaxation from the provisions of the Order sent in by Messrs. Silver Cloud Tea Factory was disposed of as under -

(3.) In W. P. 10110 of 1984, Messrs. Silver Cloud Tea Factory has challenged the validity of the Order on the ground that discrimination had been practised in the application of the Order only to certain States in the Union of India, and not others and that the Order is violative of Art.19(1)(b) of the Constitution of India. Besides, it was also claimed that making available 70 per cent of tea production to be handled by private licensed auctioneers under the clauses of the order amounted to conferment of favouritism on one class of persons, while depriving others of their business and that such diversion from one private hand to another was not in any manner sanctioned by law. The petitioner in W. P. 10110 of 1984 also maintained that it had adopted a system of distribution and pricing which had worked out very well over the years and which, it was claimed, could not in any manner be bettered or improved upon by the adoption of the auction sales system. On the aforesaid as well as other similar grounds set out in the affidavit, Messrs. Silver Cloud Tea Factory prayed for the issue of a writ of declaration that the provisions of the Order are unconstitutional and ultra vires.