TMI Blog1974 (5) TMI 116X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 13 of the Act is highly prejudicial to their interests and of the traders in general since, it will have a perpetual majority of producers. (2) To entrustment of licensing to such a Market Committee instead of to any impartial authority is unfair and an un-. reasonable restriction on the right to trade. (3) The Act in the matter of grant of licences gives no guidance at all and even under rule 70(4) two vague criteria have been laid down in the matter of issue of licences under the Act. (4) The petitioners are required to provide a storage space to the producers for their agricultural produce going to the market and this obligation is also an unreasonable res- triction on the fundamental right of the petitioners. (5) Rule 76 (1) is invalid and ultra vires section 40 of the Act and has also placed unreasonable restrictions on the right to carry on trade or business. Before we deal with these submissions, we may turn out attention to the Act. As the preamble shows the Act has to provide for the regulation of sale and purchase of agricultural produce and fox the establishment, superintendence, and control of markets therefore in Uttar Pradesh. The statement of obje ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... who is otherwise ordinarily engaged in the business, of storage of agricultural produce . We are not concerned with the pro- viso attached thereto. By section 2(y) 'trader' means a person who in the ordinary course of business is engaged in buying or selling agricultural produce as a principal or as a duly authorised agent of one or more principals and includes a person, engaged in processing of agricultural produce . After notification by the State Government of its intention to declare a particular area as a Market Area under section 5 and after inviting objections and consideration of the same, the State Government under section 6 declares the whole or any specified portion of the area mentioned in the notification to be the Market Area in respect of such agricultural produce as may be specified. Similarly under section 7, the Principal Market Yard and Sub-Market Yards are declared. Section 9(2) which is material for our purpose, may be quoted:- No person shall, in a Principal Market Yard or any Sub-Market Yard, carry on business or work as a trader, broker, commission-agent, warehouse man, weighman, palledar or in such other capacity as may be prescribed in r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the opening rule 70 provides for licensing by the Market Committees. By sub-rule(3) any person desiring to hold licence under sub-rule (1) shall make, in Form No. XI or Form No. XII, as the case may be, a written application for a licence to the Market Committee and shall pay the licence fees prescribed under rule 67 . Rule 70(4) (i) may now be quoted: On receipt of such application together with the amount of fee prescribed under rule 67, the Market Committee may issue him the licence applied for,, if- (a) it is satisfied that the applicant is solvent; (b) it is satisfied that the applicant is a desirable person to whom a licence may be granted; provided that the provisions of sub-clause (a) shall not apply to weighmen, measurers, palledars, truck plyers and Thela plyers . This rule will have to be read with section 17 quoted above. By rule 73, the order of refusal, cancellation or suspension of a licence by, the Committee shall be communicated to the person concerned in the specified manner indicated therein. Rule 76(1) which is impugned may be quoted : Every consignment of specified agricultural produce brought for sale into the Principal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... It is true that usually some governmental authority is charged with the duty of granting of licences under various local Acts. That, however, does not prove that the duly cannot be properly and impartially exercised by the Committee representing various interests which are vitally interested in the trade of agricultural produce. Whether in a particular case the action of the Committee is mala-fide or otherwise, objectionable, may be a different matter and such a grievance can be properly dealt with. That would, however, not make, the, provision invalid nor can it be said to place an unreasonable restriction on the right of the petitioners to trade. It is further submitted that there is no guidance in the Act in the matter of grant of licence and the relevant rule 70(4)(1) prescribes only two vague criteria in the matter. This submission fails to take note of the fact that the Committee which is entrusted with the duty of granting licences consists of people from different sources vitally interested in the marketing of agricultural produce. The Committee consists also of representatives from local bodies, cooperative marketing societies Central Warehousing Corporation, State Ware ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y and fitness in terms of the provisions. of the Act. It is submitted that the choice of the two criteria under rule 70(4) (i) is bad and there is no proper guidance in these criteria which are not capable of objective determination. The two criteria laid down are solvency and desirability. The applicant has to satisfy the Committee that he is solvent as opposed to insolvent that is bankrupt. We are informed that the original Hindi version of the rule which is translated into English gives the equivalents as follows :- It is satisfied that the applicant is not a bankrupt (rindiwali) . It is satisfied that the applicant is a proper (upoyukta) person to whom a licence may be granted . Mr. Sen candidly admits that the criterion on the score of bankruptcy is well known and cannot be said to be vague or indefinite. Hi, however, submits that the second criterion is not at all precise and definite. Although perhaps a more expressive guidance could have been given, we have already observed that the Act itself provides sufficient guidance to the Committee in the matter of deciding whether a particular applicant is or is not a proper person to hold a licence and w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... been made, can obtain the best price for their commodities. The definition of sale and purchase to which our attention has been drawn by the petitioners do not run counter to the provisions for auction-sale under rule 76. It cannot by any stretch of imagination be held to be an unreasonable mode in the entire scheme of the Act. The legislature is intervening to see that the producers get the maximum pecuniary return possible in their transactions and, as a necessary concomitant, eliminated the mode of private sale by individual negotiations resulting in malpractices. Besides by the proviso to rule 76(1) this restriction is not allowed to operate in the case of retail sales. There is, therefore, no substance in the submission that rule 76(1) violates the fundamental right of the petitioners under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution. Mr. Sen particularly drew our attention to two decisions of this Court. The first is given in Lala Hari Chand Sarda v. Mizo District Council and Anr. (1) That was a case where the Executive Committee of the Mizo District Council refused to renew the temporary licence issued to the appellant therein who was a non-tribal trader under section 3 of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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