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Article 305 we have already stated is out of our way. Article 306, which was later repealed by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, is also not material for the consideration of the problem before us. Article 307 is also not material as it relates to the appointment of an appropriate authority for carrying out the purposes of Arts. 301 to 304.

The series of articles on the true scope and effect of which the decision of the problem before us depends were the subject matter of consideration of this Court in the Atiabari Tea Co. case (1), In that decision three views were expressed and one of the questions mooted and argued before us is whether the principle of the majority decision in that case requires reconsideration, or modification in any respect; or whether any of the other two views expressed therein is the correct view. Another connected question is that if the majority view is the correct view, does the principle underlying it apply to the facts of the present cases It is, therefore, necessary to set out briefly the facts of the Atiabari Tea Co. case (1) and the three views expressed therein. The three appellants in that case were tea companies, two of which carried on the trade of growing tea in Assam and the other carried on its trade in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. They carried their tea to Calcutta in order that it might be sold in the Calcutta market for home consumption or export outside India. Tea produced in Jalpaiguri had to pass through a few miles of territory in Assam, while the tea produced in Assam had to go all the way through Assam to reach Calcutta. Besides the tea which was carried by rail, a substantial quantity had to go by road or by inland water-ways and as such (1) (1961) 1 S.C.R. 809.

874.) So far we have set out the factual and legal background against which the problem before us has to be solved. We must now say a few words regarding the historical background. It is necessary to do this, because extensive references have been made to Australian and American decisions, Australian decisions with regard to the interpretation of s. 92 of the Australian Constitution and American decisions with regard to the Commerce Clause of the American Constitution. This Court pointed out in the Atiabari Tea Co. case (1) that it would not be always safe to rely upon the American or Australian decisions in interpreting the provisions of our Constitution. Valuable as those decisions might be in showing how the problem of freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse was dealt with in other federal constitutions, the provisions of our Constitution must be interpreted against the historical background in which our Constitution was made; the background of problems which the Constitution makers tried to solve according to the genius of the Indian people whom the Constitution-makers represented in the Constituent Assembly. The first thing to be noticed in this connection is that the Constitution-makers were not writing on a clean slate. They had the Government of India Act. 1935, and they also had the administrative set up which that Act envisaged. India then consisted of various administrative units known as Provinces, each with its own administrative set up. There were differences of language, religion etc. Some of the Provinces were economically more developed than the others. Even inside the same Province, there were under- developed and highly developed areas from the point of view of industries, communications etc. The problem of economic integration with which the Constitution-makers were faced was a problem with many facts. Two questions, however, stood out,; one question was how to achieve a federal, economic and fiscal integration, so that economic policies affecting the interests of India as a whole could be carried out (1) [1961] 1. S. C. R. 809.

inter-State trade and commerce in a federation has been a baffling problem to constitutional experts in Australia, in America and in other federal constitutions. In evolving an integrated policy on this subject our Constitution-makers seem to have kept in mind three main considerations which may be broadly stated thus: first, in the larger interests of India there must be free flow of trade, commerce and intercourse, both inter-State and intra-State; second, the regional interests must not be ignored altogether; and third, there must be a power of intervention by the Union in any case of crisis to deal with particular problems that may arise in any part of India. As we shall presently show, all these three considerations have played their part in the series of articles which we have to consider in Part XIII of the Constitution. Therefore, in interpreting the relevant articles in Part XIII we must have regard to the general scheme of the Constitution of India with special reference to Part III (Fundamental Rights), Part XII (Finance, Property etc. containing Arts. 276 and 286) and their inter- relation to Part XIII in the context of a federal or quasi- federal constitution in which the States have certain powers including the power to raise revenues for their purposes by taxation.

Before considering the provisions of the said articles, it will be useful to make certain general observations. We have to bear in mind in approaching the problem presented before us that our Constitution was not written on clean slate. Many of the concepts were borrowed from the Government of India Act or from other Constitutions and adapted to suit the conditions of our country. We cannot ignore the fact that the Constitution was drafted by persons some of whom had a deep knowledge of the constitutional problems of other countries; and therefore, they must be assumed to have had the knowledge of the interpretation put upon certain legal concepts by the highest tribunals of those countries. At the same time, it can be reasonably assumed that they have made a sincere attempt to accept the good and to avoid the defects found by experience in the other constitutions and also to could them to suit our conditions. Further, a brief survey of the relevant provisions of those constitutions, which form the background of this article, and the interpretation put on them by the highest tribunals of the respective countries would not only be relevant but also be necessary for appreciating the correct scope of Art. 301 of our Constitution. Our Constitution provides for a federal structure with a bias towards a Central Government. But real and substantial autonomy was conferred on the States within the boundaries of the fields chalked out for them. Therefore, in approaching the problem of construing the provisions of Part XIII of our Constitution, unless the terms of the provisions of the said Part are clear and unambiguous, it would be the duty of this Court to construe them in such a manner as not to disturb the framework of the Constitution. Before I attempt to construe the relevant provisions of the Constitution, it would be convenient at this stage to consider briefly the American and Australian law material to the present inquiry.