BHAGWANDAS GAJJU Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is directed against the Notification dated 27-2-1970 of the Agriculture Department purporting to appoint, in exercise of powers under Section 7-A of the Madhya Pradesh agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1960, a Managing Committee for Bhander market in Tahsil Bhander of Gwalior District.

(2.) SECTION 7-A of the Act provides that 'when a market is established For the first time the State Government shall have powers to appoint etc. etc. " The contention is that the provisions of Section 7-A of the Act are applicable to markets established for the first time under the present Act and not to the markets which were already in existence and were continued under the present Act. The market in question, which was established under the Qawaid Mandi Hat Gwalior and further continued under the Madhya Bharat Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1952 and under the present Act, could not be said to be the first market established under the present Act and the exercise of the power of appointing a Committee was, therefore, illegal and ultra vires of the powers of the State Government.

(3.) AT the outset, it must be observed that the counsel for both the sides did not help us by producing the uptodate law before us. The return filed by the State is also not complete. Under the circumstances, we were required to hunt out all the amendments of the Act from time to time and to consider the overall effect.