RIKHI RAM Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rikhi Ram and others have appealed under Clause X of the Letters Patent of this Court against the judgment of a learned single Judge, dated February 13, 1974, passed in Civil Writ Petition No. 2570 of 1973 -- Rikhi Ram v. State of Haryana. The facts in regard to the said writ petition may be briefly noticed.

(2.) Appellants 1 to 10 are Chakki-owners, who are carrying on the business of grinding wheat at Kalka (State of Haryana). Appellants 11 and 12 are said to be traders dealing in grinding of wheat. The appellants claim to be holders of a licence in form 'B' under the Haryana Wheat Dealers Licensing and Price Control Order, 1973 (for short, the Price Control Order), copy of which is Annexure 'A' to the writ petition. Though not very material but it may be stated here that in the return filed on behalf of respondent No. 1 the stand taken is that appellants Nos. 11 and 12 have not obtained a licence under the above Order. A detailed reference was made in the writ petition to some Orders issued in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), other than the Price Control Order referred to above. The first one is the Inter-Zonal Wheat and Wheat Products (Movement Control) Order, 1973 (for brevity, the Movement Control Order), issued by the Central Government on March 31, 1973, and published in the Haryana Government Gazette dated April 24, 1973, a copy of which is Annexure 'B' to the writ petition. The State of Haryana did not find mention in the List of States and Union Territories constituting the various zones in the Schedule attached with the original Movement Control Order but as per an amendment issued on April 2, 1973, this State was included in the List. A copy of the amending Order is also on the record. The third Order referred to in the writ petition is the Haryana Wheat (Restriction on Stock by Producers) Order, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the Stock Order), copy whereof is Annexure 'C' to the writ petition. This Order was issued by the Haryana Government on June 20, 1973, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Act, read with the Orders enabling the Haryana Government to legislate in these matters with the prior concurrence of the Central Government. In the body of the writ petition, the legality of another notification dated June 26, 1973, issued under the Haryana Wheat Dealers Licensing and Price Control Order, 1973, copy whereof is Annexure 'D' to the writ petition, was also questioned, though this challenge appears to have been curtailed in the prayer made at the conclusion of the petition. However, the order of the learned single Judge, which is impugned in the present appeal, indicates that when the matter was canvassed before that Court, the legality of all the above mentioned Orders was mooted.

(3.) The various points which were urged before the learned single Judge have been specifically formulated in the judgment as follows:-