HARNAM DAS LAKHI RAM Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of Civil Writ Petitions Nos. 8605, 8604, 8757 to 8763, 8779 to 8788, 133 of 1976; 3 to 19, 86, 108 to 114, 161, 269, 333 to 340, 347, 578 of 1977; and 7508 of 1975. Since the question of law involved in all these cases is common, therefore, the same are being disposed of by a common judgment.

(2.) Before Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961(Punjab Act No. 23 of 1961), (hereinafter referred to as the Act) was enacted by the Punjab Legislature, the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act of 1939, was operating in the area of the erstwhile Punjab State; whereas the Patiala Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 2004 B. K. was operating in the erstwhile area of the Patiala & East Punjab States Union. Both these enactments were repealed by S. 47 of the Act which Act was passed to consolidate and amend the law relating to better regulation of the purchase, sale, storage and processing of agricultural produce in the State of Punjab. This was so mentioned as the object of the enactment. It is pertinent to mention that with a view to check the mal--practices in the sphere of purchase, sale, storage and processing of agricultural produce, the question of having regulated markets and regulating the sale and purchase in the market areas, attracted the attention of Government of the day as far back as 1928. Royal Commission on Agriculture in India, 1928, highlighted this aspect in the following words:-" If, as we have held in the preceding para, it is established that the cultivator obtains a much better price for his produce when he disposes of it in a market than when he sells it in his village, the importance to him of properly organised markets needs no emphasis. The importance of such markets lies not only in the functions they fulfil but in their re--actions upon production. Well regulated markets create in the mind of the cultivator a feeling of confidence and of receiving fair play and this is the mood in which he is most ready to accept new ideals and to strive to improve his agricultural practice. Unless the cultivator can be certain of securing adequate value for the quality and purity of his produce, the effort required for an improvement in these will not be forthcoming. The value of the educative effect of well regulated markets on the producer can hardly be exaggerated but it has yet to be recognised in India. From all provinces we received complaints of the disabilities under which the cultivator labours in selling his produce in markets as at present organised. It was stated that scales and weights and measures were manipulated against him, a practice which is often rendered easier by the absence of standardised weights and measures and of any system of regular inspection. Deductions which fall entirely on him but against which he has no effective means of protest are made in most markets for religious and charitable purposes and for other objects. Large 'samples' of his produce are taken for which he is not paid even when no sale is effected. Bargains between the agent who acts for him and the one who negotiates for the purchaser are made secretly under a cloth and he remains in ignorance of what is happening. The broker whom he is compelled to employ in the larger markets is more inclined to favour the purchaser with whom he is brought into daily contact than the seller whom he only sees very occasionally. The inclination to favour the buyer becomes more pronounced when, as not infrequently happens, he acts for both parties."

(3.) In a Seminar on Regulated markets organised by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Department of Agriculture) at Mysore in 1959, the question of regulating the sale and purchase outside the market proper, was considered. Subject No. 3 of the Seminar pertained to this aspect of the problem. An extract from the report of the Seminar regarding the said subject is as follows:- "Subject 3.--Regulating the sale and purchase outside the market proper.--Many of the speakers enumerated the mal--practices indulged in by the traders while making village--site purchases and wanted that there should be some sort of an over--all regulation of all transactions made beyond the market--yard. To make the Regulation effective over the operations of the traders the following measures were recommended for adoption by the market committees:- (1) licensing of traders should be introduced throughout the market area. (2) Supervisory staff must be strengthened by the market committees. (3) Periodical returns should be submitted to the market committee for the purchases made by the licensees outside the market yard. (4) As in certain Acts there is no provision for the employees of the market committees to check weights and measures, such market committees should be delegated powers of checking the weights and measures within their jurisdictions."