RAGHO SAO Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has been convicted under Rule 81(4), Defence of India Rules, for contravening Rule 81(2)(b) of the said rules and sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 25. It was alleged that on 26 July 1942, he sold two bottles of kerosene oil at the rate of 8frac12; annas a bottle, whereas the controlled price of kerosene oil was 4 annas a bottle. At the trial the petitioner pleaded guilty. He preferred an appeal to the Sessions Judge on the question of sentence under Section 412, Criminal P.C., and that appeal was dismissed. He has now applied to this Court in revision, contending that the fixing of the price of kerosene oil by the controlling authority was not legal and that the Defence of India Act, in so far as it purports to invest the Provincial Government with power to authorise certain officers to fix the prices of commodities, was invalid as contravening the provisions of the Constitution Act.

(2.) In order to appreciate this argument it is necessary to refer to certain provisions of the Constitution Act and of the Defence of India Act. The Provincial Legislature was authorised by the Constitution Act to legislate with regard to trade and commerce within the Province and with regard to the production, supply and distribution of goods: see items 27 and 29, Provincial Legislative List. This general power to legislate with regard to trade and commerce and the production, supply and distribution of goods, in so far as the import and export of goods into any Province are concerned, is curtailed by Section 297(1)(a). That section provides that the Provincial Legislature, merely by virtue of the entries in the Provincial Legislative List, is not invested with power to prohibit or restrict the entry into or export from the Province of goods of any class or description.

(3.) It has been contended, in the first place, in this case, that the fixing of the price of kerosene oil amounts to a restriction of the entry of that commodity into this Province. It is not contended that the fixing of the price of kerosene directly restricts the import of oil into this Province, for, obviously, it does no such thing. What is contended is that the result of the fixing of the price of kerosene oil is that as dealers are unwilling to sell oil at the fixed price, they do not import it, and thus, indirectly, the import of oil is restricted into the Province.