TMI Blog1963 (6) TMI 40X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ness comprises in receiving chillies from agriculturists, storing them if necessary and selling them in the open market on behalf of the agriculturists to agents of buyers from outside the district and elsewhere. They further state that after deducting the expenses and their legitimate commission, the sale amount is paid over to the agriculturists. The two petitioners in W. P. No. 500 of 1961 claim to be growers of chilli crop and their case is that they borrow moneys from commission agents for the purpose of raising chillies and when the crop is harvested, they entrust the chillies to the commission agents for being disposed of by them as and when they would fetch a good price. 2. The Government of Andhra, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 2 (i-a) of this Act, issued on January 12, 1955 a notification (G. O. Ms. No. 99, Revenue No. 33) declaring jute, jaggery, onions and chillies as commercial crops for the purposes of this Act. Then on August 21, 1957, the Government of Andhra Pradesh issued a notification under Section 3 of this Act declaring their intention of exercising control over the purchase and sale of turmeric ana chillies in the Guntur distric ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ecretary to Government. 3. More than a year later, the first two of these Writ Petitions viz., W. P. Nos. 273 and 274 of 1981 were filed in this Court on March 13, 1981. These two writ petitions were admitted by this Court on 14-3 1961, and on 22-3.1961 orders of injunction were passed restraining the respondents viz., the State of Andhra Pradesh and the District Collector in his capacity as the ex-officio Chairman of the Guntur Market Committee, from giving effect to G. O. Ms. No. 211 Agriculture, dated February 2, 1960. On 24-4-1961 two other Writ Petitions viz., W. P. Nos. 488 and 500 of 1961 were filed and they were also admitted the next day by this Court and injunction was ordered Writ Petition No. 32 of 1962 was filed on 4-1-1962 and it was admitted on 8-1-1962. The application for injunction was however dismissed and the Writ Petition was directed to be posted in the first week of March. 1982. The orders of injunction obtained by the petitioners in W. P. Nos. 273, 274. 488 and 500 of 1961 have continued up to this day, that is to say, for over two years. 4. Although the main prayer in all these Writ Petitions is for the issue of a writ of mandamus directing the State ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t was under this amended provision that chillies were notified as a commercial crop on January 12, 1955. The contention was that Section 2 is a definition Section and it is not the office of a definition clause to confer power upon the Government to notify any crop or product as a commercial crop for the purposes of this Act. The statutorily defined crops are only three viz., cotton, groundnut and tobacco. An addition to this list by the State Government, acting under the latter part of Section 2 (i-a), is had, because a definition clause is not an enacting provision and cannot confer power. Besides, it is opposed to legislative practice. (2) Even if the Government have such power, the power conferred on the Government under Section 2 (i-a) to declare any crop it chooses to, as a commercial crop, amounts to an unlawful delegation of legislative power to the executive. In any event, it is an excessive delegation of legislative power in that it is unguided and uncontrolled. For that very reason, it is violative of the equal protection clause enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution. (3) The notifications under Sections 2 (i-a), 3 and 4 issued subsequent to the coming into fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and enacted to regulate the buying and selling of commercial crops by providing suitable and regulated markets by eliminating middlemen and bringing face to face the producer and the buyer so that they may meet on equal terms, thereby eradicating or at any rate reducing the scope for exploitation in dealings. 6. Again at page 302 (of S C J) : (at p, 305 of AIR), the learned Judge observed : Shortly stated, the Act, Rules and the Bye-laws framed thereunder have a long-term target of providing a network of markets wherein facilities for correct weighment are ensured storage accommodation is provided, and equal powers of bargaining, ensured, so that the growers may bring their commercial crops to the market and sell them at reasonable prices. Till such markets are established, the said provisions, by imposing licensing restrictions enable the buyers and sellers to meet in licensed premises, ensure correct weighment, make available to them reliable market information and provide for them a simple machinery for settlement of disputes. After the markets are built or opened by the marketing committees, within a reasonable radius from the market, as prescribed by the Rules, no licen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... etence, it was for the Legislature to decide what it should include in a definition section. As Sir Frederick Pollock has said, ''A definition, strictly speaking, is nothing but an abbreviation, in which the user of the term defined may please himself. 47 L Q R (1931) 588. In Craies on Statute Law (5th edition) at page 152, the following passage occurs; The more modern statute contains, in the form of an interpretation clause, a little dictionary of its own in which it endeavours to define, often arbitrarily, the chief terms used. I have been shown no authority for the proposition that power cannot be conferred by means of a definition clause and that it can be done only by a separate, and independent clause. On the contrary, the statute-book furnishes several instances of a definition clause similar to Section 2 (i.a) of this Act; see for example, Section 2(i) to the Employees' Provident Fund Act (XIX of 1952), and Section 2(xi) of the Essential Commodities Act (X of 1955). 12. Point No. 2.--The contention was that by empowering the State Government to add to the list of commercial crops the Legislature has over-stepped the bounds of permissible delegation of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate or not. As the decision in Ragla's case shows, in applying this test this Court has taken into account the statement in the preamble to the Act, and if the said statements afford a satisfactory basis for holding that the legislative policy and principle has been enunciated with sufficient accuracy and clarity the preamble itself has been held to satisfy the requirements of the relevant tests. In every case it would be necessary to consider the relevant provisions of the Act in relation to the delegation made and the question as to whether the delegation is intra vires or not will have to be decided by the application of the relevant tests. 14. Now, coming to the case of AIR 1982 S C 97, referred to supra, their Lordships were there dealing with the question as to the constitutionality of the Bombay Agricultural Produce Markets Act (No. XXII of 1939) and in doing so they had also to consider the validity of Section 29 of that Act. As pointed out by their Lordships, the provisions of the Bombay Act are closely similar to the provisions of this Act and in particular Section 29 of that Act is in pari materia with Section 2 (i-a) of this Act. The Bombay Act in general was cha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ops as commercial crops in the definition Section and added that the words ''commercial crop used in that Act would include any other crop or product notified by the State Government in the Fort St. George Gazette as a commercial crop for the purposes of that Act. In view of this inclusive definition of commercial crop in the Madras Act, it was open to the State Government under that Act to include any crop within the meaning of the words commercial crop which was regulated by that Act. The Act had a Schedule when it was originally passed in which certain crops were included. The State Government was however given the power to add to or amend or cancel any of the items mentioned in the Schedule by Section 29. It is true therefore that under the Act it is open to the State Government to bring any crop other than those specified originally in the Schedule within its regulatory provisions; but the fact that it is possible to bring any crop within the regulatory provisions of the Act by amendment of the Schedule would not necessarily make the Act an unreasonable restriction on the exercise of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g). As we have already poi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e pot into the Schedule or which shall be taken out therefrom but the guidance is in our opinion writ large in the various provisions of this Act itself. As we have already pointed out, the scheme of the Act is to leave out of account retail sale altogether; it deals with what may be called wholesale trade and this in out opinion provides ample guidance to the State Government, when it comes to decide whether a particular agricultural produce 'should' be added to, or taken out of, the Schedule. The State Government will have to consider in each case whether the volume of trade in the produce is of such a nature as to give rise to wholesale trade. If it comes to this conclusion it may add that produce to the Schedule. On the other hand if it conies to the conclusion that the production of a particular produce included in the Schedule has fallen and can be no longer a subject-matter of wholesale trade, it may take out that produce from the Schedule. We may in this connection refer to Edward Mills Co, Ltd. Beawar v. State of Ajmer, (1954) II LLJ 686 SC . In that case Section 27 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, which gave power to the appropriate Government to ada to either part ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... but only crops which have a commercial value, that is to say, crops which have a wide market, internal or external or both; in other words, they would be crops which are traded in on a large scale. In respect to such crops there would naturally be great scope for unjust enrichment by profiteers at the expense of the agriculturists. Thus the adjective commercial' which governs the word 'crop1, furnishes the key and affords the necessary guidance to the State, Government in exercising their power of notification: uader Section 2 (i-a). Furthermore the categories of Commercial crops do not remain fixed and immutable. Their number may increase with time and circumstance depending upon the exigencies of the market. They may also vary from place to place. In 1933 when this Act was passed, it would appear that the only products which had an international market were cotton, groundnut and tobacco; and so the definition of commercial crops, as enacted originally, comprised only those three crops. But subsequently it was found that other products were acquiring a commercial value because of the volume of trade in them and it was apparently for that reason that Act II of 1949 was pas ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... easonable restrictions on the freedom of trade, commerce or intercourse with or within that State as may be required in the public interest, provided that no Bill or amendment imposing such restrictions shall be introduced or moved in the Legislature of a State without the previous sanction of the President. Article 305 saves existing laws and takes them outside the ambit of Article 301 by prescribing inter alia that nothing in Article 301 shall affect the provisions of any existing law except in so far as the President may by order otherwise direct. The argument of the learned Advocate for the petitioners was that the notifications issued by the State Government in these cases, which should be regarded as the law whereby the operation of this Act was extended to Guntur in respect of chillies, contravene the provisions of Article 301 of the Constitution inasmuch as they impose curbs and shackles on freedom of trade, and these notifications are not an existing law coming within the saving clause of Article 305, and admittedly they were not enacted by the State Legislature to come within the scope of Article 304. 18. In my opinion, the entire argument is fallacious because it proc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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