STATE Vs. BANSHIDHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE connected appeals raise a common question of law and may be disposed of by a common order.

(2.) THE four respondents were prosecuted for contravention of Clause 4 of the Essential Articles (Price Control) Order, 1963 (hereinafter referred to as the Order) which requires every dealer to cause to be prominently displayed price-lists of articles for sale at his shop. The Magistrate recorded a conviction but in appeal the Sessions Judge passed an order of acquittal on the ground that the prosecution had failed to prove that the Order was in force on 25-3-63, the date on which the shops had been raided by the police. The State Government appealed against the acquittal of the respondents and the appeals were heard by my brothers Khare and Yashoda Nandan, JJ. The learned Judges differed in their opinion on the principal question whether the Order had come into force in Uttar Pradesh on 25-3-63, the date on which the alleged offences were said to have been committed. Khare, J. was of the view that in the absence of any indication in the Order that it shall come into force at once or from some future date, the respondents were not liable to be convicted inasmuch as the provisions of the Order had not come into operation on the date of the alleged offence. Yashoda Nandan, J. on the other hand, came to the contrary conclusion and held that when the legislative organ has completed the act of legislation without expressing the intention that its effectiveness stands postponed to a future date, the only intention that can be attributed to it is that that law has become effective and enforceable from the date of its publication in the official gazette. In view of the difference of opinion between the two learned Judges the following question has been referred to me for opinion:

(3.) IN pursuance of the powers conferred by Sub-rules (2) and (3) of Rule 125 the Central Government made an order called the Essential Articles (Price Control) Order, 1963 and the same was published in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) dated 1-3-1963. Clause 3 of the Order lays down that "no wholesale dealer or retail dealer, as the case may be, shall, with effect from the commencement of this Order, sell any essential article to any person at a price which is in excess of the control price." Clause 3 aforesaid was later amended by the Central Government and the same was published in the Government of India Gazette dated 6th March 1963. One of the changes introduced by the amendment was that the words 'with effect from the commencement of this Order" originally appearing in Clause 3 were deleted from the Order.