SUJAN SINGH MATU RAM Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment will dispose of a bunch of thirteen writ petitions (Nos. 2777, 2778, 2779, 2780, 2781, 2782, 2783, 2784, 2785, 2789, 2790, 2791 and 2792 of 1966), in all of which the common question of law that calls for decision is whether the Punjab Essential Commodities (Regulation of Sale) Order, 1966, published in the Punjab Government Gazette (Extraordinary), dated September 23, 1966, is valid, legal, constitutional and intra vires Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act (10 of 1955), or not. With the leave of the Court, Shri Bhagirath Dass Advocate was allowed to support the case of the petitioners as he is the counsel in civil writs Nos. 2244, 2249 and 2449 of 1966, in which also the same question is involved.

(2.) THE petitioners in all these cases claim to be doing business of the purchase and sale of Haldi (turmeric), pepper, chillies, corriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, fenugreek, cardamom, dry mango peel (Amchoor) and dry ginger (Soonth) etc. , in their original form as well as in the form of powders. Their business also includes the purchasing of the above-mentioned commodities in their original form from the open market, grinding the relevant commodities out of them and mixing them together in the powdered form for sale of the condiment known as "garam Masala". They claim in these writ petitions that the articles above-named are not "foodstuffs" within the meaning ascribed to that expression in the Essential Commodities Act (10 of 1955) (hereinafter called the Central Act), and in the absence of a notification of the Central Government, no addition can be made to the list of essential commodities contained in Sub-Clauses (i) to (x) of Clause (a) of Section 2 of the Central Act. They have also attacked the notification in question on the ground that it outsteps the jurisdiction and authority of the Government under Section 3 of the Act read with the relevant notification under Section 5 thereof.

(3.) IN the respective written statements of the respondents, the validity of the notification has been supported on the ground that the articles in question fall within the statutory expression of "foodstuffs", and the restrictions laid down by the notification amount to mere qualitative control of the commodities in question for which power has been duly delegated by the Central Government to the State Government under Section 5 of the Central Act. 3-a. The various legal enactments, to which reference may have to be made during the course of this judgment, leading to the issue of the impugned notification may first be referred to. The Defence of India Act (35 of 1939) was passed on September 29, in that year, as an emergency measure during the Second World War. The Act was to remain in force during the continuance of the said war and for a period of six months thereafter. The ultimate date of its expiry was September 30, 1946, Section 2 of the 1939 Act authorised the Central Government to make such rules as might appear to it necessary or expedient for securing the defence of British India, the public safety, the maintenance of public order or the efficient prosecution of war, or "for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life of the community". Sub-section (2) of that section gave an illustrative list of me subjects on which such rules could be made. In exercise of the powers under that section, the Central Government framed the Defence of India Rules, 1939. Rule 81 (2) (a) authorised the Central Government or the Provincial Governments to promulgate orders under that rule, inter alia, for regulating or prohibiting the production, treatment keeping, storage, movement, transport, distribution, disposal, acquisition, use or consumption of articles or things of any description whatsoever and in particular for prohibiting the withholding from sale, either generally or to specified persons or classes of persons, of articles or things kept for sale, and for requiring articles or things kept for sale to be sold either generally or to specified persons or classes of persons or in specified circumstances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in order to maintain supplies and services essential to the life of the community.