TMI Blog1987 (5) TMI 369X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... treated as experimental period and the lease should be deemed to have commenced from October 1, 1969 and to last for a period of ten years. The Orissa Oil Industries Limited, a public limited company, was floated by the Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited and it was agreed that the State Government should also contribute to the share capital of the company. It was agreed that the Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited should supply Sal Seeds to the two solvent extraction plants of the Orissa Oil Industries Limited, one set up at Bairangpur in Mayurbhanj District with a capacity to crush 21,000 M.T. Sal Seeds and the other at Sasan in Sambalpur District with a capacity to crush 21,000 M.T. sal seeds. Thereafter on May 25, 1979, agreements renewing the leases for the purchase and removal of sal seeds from the eleven Forest Divisions for a further period of ten years from October 1, 1979 to September 30, 1989 were entered into by the Utkal Contractors and Joincry Private Limited and the Government of Orissa. This was followed up by an agreement between the Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited and the Orissa Oil Industries Limited for the supply of the entire ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 9, 1982 directing that the Act shall come into force at once in the whole of the State of Orissa in relation to sal seeds. We are told that this is the only notification issued so far under s. 1(3) of the Act, despite the fact that in the very Statement of Objects and Reasons it was expressly recited that sal seeds was not a forest produce grown in Government forests. In fact, we find that even after the commencement of the Act and before the issue of the Notification, there were negotiations between the Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited and the State Government for long term agreements for purchase _and sale of sal seeds in Athagarh and Puri Forest Divisions. Such agreements were in fact entered into in relation to Parlakhemundi Forest Division between the State of Orissa and Indo East Extraction Limited. On December 24, 1982, the Government refused to accept royalty from Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited in respect of Dhenkanal and Sambalpur Forest Division on the ground that the Notification dated December 9, 1982 had the effect of rescinding the contract between the company and the Government. Thereupon Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited and O ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d therefore, not saved by the explanation. He further urged that the agents contemplated by s. 4 of the Act were not agents to act on behalf of the Government. They were public agents , named as such, to carry on the activity of purchasing and trading in specified forest produce. They could purchase from and sell to the Government. We may straightaway say that it was never the case of the Government in the High Court that the character of the agents was as suggested by the learned Additional Solicitor General. We do not, therefore, propose to consider the submission of learned Additional Solicitor General whatever justification there may be for the submission on the-language of section 4. The learned Additional Solicitor General further submitted that even if the agreement which Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited had with the Government was saved by Explanation II, the further agreement by which the Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited was required to supply sal seeds to Orissa Oil Industries Limited and the latter was required to purchase from the former was not saved by Explanation II and therefore, no relief could be granted to the appellants. This submissio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction 1 for such specified area. Section 4 authorises the Government to appoint one or more agents for the purchase of and trade in specified forest produce in respect of one or more subdivisions of a specified area. It is also provided that any person including a Gram Panchayat, a Cooperative Society or the State Tribal Development Corporation may be appointed as an agent. Section 5 is important and we are particularly concerned with subsections (1) and (3) of section 5 which may be fully extracted here. They are as follows:- 5. Restriction on purchase and transport and rescission of subsisting contracts---(1) On the issue of a notification under sub-section (3) of section 1 in respect of any area-- (a) all contracts for the purchase, sale, gathering or collection of specified forest produce grown or found in the said area shah stand rescinded, and (b) no person other than-- (i) the State Government, (ii) an officer of the State Government authorised in writing in that behalf, or (iii) an agent in respect of the unit in which the specified forest produce is grown or found. shall purchase or transport any specified forest produce in the said area. Ex ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2)(b) provides that notwithstanding anything contained in sub-s. (1), any person may transport any specified forest produce within the prescribed limits from the place of purchase of any such produce to the place where such produce is required for bona fide use or for consumption. It is further provided that any specified forest produce purchased from the State Government or any Officer or agent or any person for manufacture of goods within the State in which such specified forest produce is used as raw material or by any person for sale outside the State may be transported in accordance with the terms and conditions of a permit issued by the prescribed authority. Section 6 provides for the constitution of an Advisory Committee in respect of each specified forest produce for each Revenue Division. The object of the Committee is to advise the Government in the matter of fixation of fair and reasonable price of each specified forest produce at which such produce may be purchased by the State Government or its authorised officers or agents when they are offered for sale in such division in accordance with the provisions of this Act. Section 7 enables the State Government, after c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o provision in the statute and no word of the statute may be construed in isolation. Every provision and every word must be looked at generally before any provision or word is attempted to be construed. The setting and the pattern are important. It is again important to remember that Parliament does not waste its breath unnecessarily. Just as Parliament is not expected to use unnecessary expressions, Parliament is also not expected to express itself unnecessarily. Even as Parliament does not use any word without meaning something, Parliament does not legislate where no legislation is called for. Parliament cannot be assumed to legislate for the sake of legislation, nor can it be assumed to make pointless legislation. Parliament does not indulge in legislation merely to state what it is unnecessary to state or to do what is already validly done. Parliament may not be assumed to legislate unnecessarily. Again, while the words of an enacthttp:// JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 10 of 13 ment are important, the context is no less important. For instance, the fact that general words are used in a statute is not in itself a conclusive reason why every case falling literally with ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ation, is opaque: all general words are open to inspection, many general words demand inspection, to see whether they really bear their widest possible meaning. But we think that when we rely upon rules of construction we must always bear in mind Lord Reid s admonition in Maunsell v. Olins (supra) to the following effect: Then rules of construction are relied on. They are not rules in the ordinary sense of having some binding force. They are our servants not our masters. They are aids to constructions, presumptions or pointers. Not infrequently one rule points in one direction, another in a different direction. In each case we must look at all relevant circumstances and decide as a matter of judgment what weight to attach to any particular rule . Bearing these broad rules in mind, we may now examine the Act and the argument. The reason for the Act is not far to seek. Earlier we have set out the Statement of Objects and Reasons. The Statement of Objects and Reasons is explicit that the Act was proposed to be enacted to prevent smuggling of forest produce grown in Government lands under the guise of produce grown on private lands. This was sought to be achieved, as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed forest produce. All these provisions, we see, deal with purchase of forest produce by the State Government. As stated by us earlier, this can only be of forest produce grown in private holdings and not in Government forests. The only provision which deals with sale of forest produce by the State Government is section 12 and that again is confined to the sale of specified forest produce purchased by the State Government, its officers or agents. Thus, s. 4, s. 5(1)(b), s. 5(3), s. 7, s. 8, s. 9, s. 10 and s. 12, all deal with the forest produce grown in private holdings and all these provisions except sections 10 and 12 deal with purchase of forest produce by the Government, its officers or agents. Section 10, as we have already seen, deals with registration of growers of forest produce and section 12 with sale of forest produce purchased by the Government. Thus none of these provisions deals with forest produce grown in Government lands nor is there any other provision in the Act which expressly deals with forest produce grown in Government lands. The scheme of the Act is, therefore, fully in tune with the object set out in the Statement of Objects and Reasons and in the Preamble ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rivate holdings and not to forest produce grown in Government lands. One of the submissions of the learned Additional Solicitor General was that despite noticing in the Statement of Objects and Reasons that sal seeds were grown in Government lands only yet sal seeds were included in the definition of forest produce and this was a clear indication that forest produce grown in Government lands was also meant to be dealt with by the Act. We do not think that the mere inclusion of sal seeds in the definition of forest produce can lead to such consequences in the teeth of the several provisions of the Act. Several species of forest produce were included in the definition of forest produce and among them sal seeds were also included so as to eliminate even the remote possibility of the existence of some stray private holdings in which sal seeds may have been grown. In the view that we have taken it is unnecessary for us to consider the further submission that Explanation II to s. 5(1) saves the present contract or t, hat Explanation II is an explanation only to s. 5(1)(a) and not to s. 5(1)(b). We declare that the Act and the notification issued under the Act do not apply t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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