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On behalf of the appellants, it was submitted by Shri F.S. Nafiman in Civil Appeal No. 6230 of 1983 and Shri S.N. Kacker in Civil Appeal No. 6231 of 1983 that the Orissa Forest Produce (Control of Trade) Act, 1981 had no applica- tion to forest produce grown in Government forests. The Act was aimed at creating a monopoly in forest produce in the Government. Since the Government was already the owner of forest produce in Government forests all that was necessary to create a monopoly in all forest produce in the Government was to vest in the Government the exclusive right to pur- chase forest produce grown in private holdings. That was precisely what was done by the Orissa Forest Produce (Con- trol of Trade) Act, 1981 according to the learned counsel. It was further argued that even otherwise Explanation II to s. 5(1) saved such contracts for the purchase of specified forest produce from Government forests also. It was also brought to our notice that such contracts were entered into in pursuance of the avowed Industrial Policy of the Govern- ment of Orissa. Shri G. Ramaswamy, learned Additional Solic- itor General argued that Orissa Forest Produce (Control of Trade) Act, 1981 was a comprehensive Act intended to control and regulate trade in forest produce whether grown in Gov- ernment forest or land held by private owners. He urged that the language of s. 5(1)(a) was so wide as to be incapa- ble of any construction other than to say that all contracts relating to trade in forest produce shall stand rescinded irrespective of whether the contract related to forest produce grown in Government forests or forest produce grown on private lands. He urged that Explanation II, properly viewed, was an explanation to s. 5(1)(b) only and not to s. 5(1)(a) He argued that in any event the contract was for the collection and not for the purchase of forest produce and 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 purchas- ing and trading in specified forest produce. They could purchase from and sell to the Government. We may straight- away 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 Expla- nation II, the further agreement by which the Utkal Contrac- tors 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 Expla- nation II and therefore, no relief could be granted to the appellants. This submission again is a new point raised for the first time in this Court. We do not think we will be justified in permitting the Additional Solicitor General to raise the question at this stage. Such a question was not raised in the High Court probably because the contract between Utkal Contractors and Joinery Private Limited and Orissa Oil Industries Limited appears to have been entered into at the behest of the Government. The questions for consideration, therefore, are whether purchase of sal seeds grown in Government forests is outside the purview of the Orissa Forest Produce (Control of Trade) Act, 1981 and whether, in any event, a contract such as the one with which we are concerned is saved by Explanation II to s. 5(1). We have already referred to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Orissa Forest Produce (Control of Trade) Act. We have noticed that' the object was to prevent smuggling of those varieties of forest produce as were grown both in Government forests and private lands. We also notice that it was expressly mentioned in the Statement of Objects and Reasons that such varieties of forest produce were unlike sal seeds which were grown only in Government forests. Even so we notice that the only notifi- cation ever issued under the Act was in respect of sal seeds and no other forest produce. We can only comment that curi- ous indeed are the ways of the powers that be. Section 1(3) of the Act declares that the Act shall come into force in such area or areas and in relation to such forest produce and on such date or dates as the State Gov- ernment may, from time to time, by notification, specify in that behalf. Section 2(c) defines 'forest produce' and enumerates various items of forest produce. One of them is sal seeds. Section 2(d) defines "growers of forest produce"

Provided that State Government, the Government Officer or the agent shall not be bound to repurchase specified forest produce once sold.
(4).......................................

We notice that though s. 5(1)(a) is in general terms and declares that all contracts for the purchase and sale of forest produce shall stand rescinded and clause (b) bans purchase and transport of forest produce by any person other than the State Government or its officers or agents. Explanation II is clear that purchase of specified forest produce from the State Government or its officers or agents is not to be deemed to be a purchase in contravention of the provisions of the Act. Explanation III, we see, declares that a person having no interest in the holding but acquires the right to collect the specified forest produce grown or found on such holding shall be deemed to have purchased such produce in contravention of the provisions of the Act. It is obvious that the reference to holding here is to land held by a person other than the Government and not to land owned by the Government. We are primarily concerned in this case with the effect of s. 5(1)(a) and (b) in the light of Explanation II. Sub-section (3) of section 5 also, we further notice, refers to sale to the officers, or agents of the Government by individuals and not sale by the Government or its offi- cers or agents to individuals.

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 explic- it that the Act was proposed to be enacted to prevent smug- gling of forest produce grown in Government lands under the guise of produce grown on private lands. This was sought to be achieved, as stated in the preamble by the creation of a State monopoly. Since the State was already the owner of the forest produce grown in Government land, what was necessary and sufficient to be done by-the proposed legislation was to vest in the Government the exclusive right to purchase forest produce grown on private land. We may now proceed to examine the scheme and the provisions of the Act to find out whether this was not precisely what was done. At the outset, we notice that 'grower of forest produce' is defined to include the State Government but on an examina- tion of the remaining provisions of the Act we find that the expression 'grower of forest produce' is not found in any other provision except sec. 5(2)(a) and s. 10. Section 5(2)(a) provides for the transport of produce by the grower of forest produce from a place within one unit to another place within the unit. Section 10 requires every grower of specified forest produce to get himself registered in the prescribed manner. Obviously neither s. 5(2)(a) nor s. 10 has any application to the Government. Therefore, the cir- cumstance that grower of forest produce is defined so as to include the Government appears to us to be of no consequence in determining whether the Act is applicable to forest produce grown on Government lands. On the other hand, from the extracts and summary of the other provisions of the Act that we have given earlier, we find that section after section deals with purchase of forest produce which, in the circumstances, can only refer to purchase of forest produce grown on private holdings since there can be no question of or providing for the purchase by the Government of forest produce grown on Government lands. Section 4 enables the appointment by the State Government of agents for the pur- chase of and trade is specified forest produce. Section 5(1)(b) refers to purchase or transport of specified forest produce by the State Government, its officers and agents. Section 5(3) refers to sale of forest produce to the Govern- ment, its officers or agents. Section 7 refers to the fixa- tion of price at which the Government, its officers or agents may purchase forest produce. Section 8 enables the opening of depots for the purchase of forest produce by the Government, its officers and agents. Section 9 deals with the obligation of the State Government, its agents and officers to purchase specified 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 Govern- ment, 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, namely, that of creating a monopoly in forest produce by making the Government the exclusive purchaser of forest produce grown in private holdings. It was argued by the learned Additional Solicitor General that s. 5(1)(a) was totally out of tune with the rest of the provisions and, while the rest of the provisions dealt with forest produce grown in private holdings, the very wide language of s. 5(1)(a) made it applicable to all forest produce whether grown in private holdings or Government forests. We do not think that it is permissible for us to construe s. 5(1) (a) in the very wide terms in which we are asked to construe it by the learned Additional Solicitor General because of its wide language, as that would merely introduce needless confusion into the scheme of the Act. Having scanned the object and the scheme of the Act, having examined each of the provisions of the Act textually and contextually, we do not think that it is proper for us to construe the words of s. 5(1)(a) in their literal sense; we think that the proper way to construe s. 5(1)(a) is to give a restricted meaning to the wide and general words there used so as to fit into the general scheme of the Act. Section 5(1)(a) and 5(1)(b) are connected by the conjunction 'and', and having regard to the circumstances leading to the enactment and the policy and design of the Act, we think that clauses (a) and (b) must be construed in such a way as to reflect each other. We have no doubt that the contracts relating to specified forest produce which stand rescinded are contracts in rela- tion to forest produce grown in private holdings only. If the very object of the Act is to create a monopoly in forest produce in the Government so as to enable the Government, among other things, to enter into contracts, there was no point in rescinding contracts already validly entered into by the Government. Again s. 5(1) does not bar any future contracts by the Government in respect of forest produce; if so, what is the justification for construing s. 5(1)(a) in such a way as to put an end to contracts already entered into by the Government. Viewing s. 5(1)(a) and 5(1)(b) together and in the light of the preamble and the Statement of Objects and Reasons and against the decor of the remain- ing provisions of the Act, we have no doubt that s. 5(1), like the rest of the provisions, applies to forest produce grown in private holdings and not to forest produce grown in Government lands.

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 to forest produce grown in Government forests and that it was not therefore, open to the Govern- ment to treat the contract dated May 25, 1979 as rescinded. As a result of the attitude of the Government in treating the contract as rescinded from the date of the notification the appellants were not able to collect and purchase the sal seeds from the Government forests which they have taken on lease for a period of about four years. The question arises whether any further relief in addition to declaration may be granted by us. It was suggested on behalf of the appellants that their lease should be extended by another period of four years. We do not think that it is permissible for us to extend the lease for a further period of four years in that fashion. We can only leave it open to the parties to work out their rights in the light of the declaration granted by us. We find that various interim orders were made from time to time. The rights of the parties will naturally have to be worked out after taking into account the interim orders. Civil Appeal No. 6231 is an appeal by other persons similarly placed as the appellants in Civil Appeal No. 6230 of 1983 in respect of a different contract. Both the appeals are allowed with costs in the manner indicated above. We mentioned at the outset that although several species of forest produce were included in the definition of forest produce under the Act, the only notification issued under the Act in respect of any specie of forest produce was in respect of sal seeds, an item in respect of which no notifi- cation whatsoever was necessary if what was stated in the Statement of Objects and Reasons was correct. We are not a little surprised that the only occasion for using the ma- chinery of Orissa Forest Produce (Control of Trade) Act, 1981 was to issue a notification in respect of sal seeds and not in respect of other forest produce, leaving an uneasy feeling with us that the notification was issued only with the object of putting an end to these contracts solemnly entered into by the Orissa Govern- ment for the avowed purpose of encouraging the setting up of certain industries in the State of Orissa. The allegation of the appellants is that this has been done with a view to help certain industrialists outside the State. We desire to express no opinion on this allegation.