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8.2 In the instant case, sufficient power has been delegated to the Central Government by sub-s. (3-C) to formulate and implement its policy decisions by means of statutory instruments and executive orders. Classification of sugar factories with due regard to geographical-cum-agro economic considerations for the purpose of determining the price of sugar in terms of the said sub-section is a policy decision based on exhaustive expert conclusions. Such clas- sification, cannot, in the absence of evidence to the con- trary, be characterised as arbitrary or unreasonable or not rounded on an intelligible differentia having a rational nexus with the object sought to be achieved by sub-section (3-C). [949E, 947B-D] The Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills v. The Union of India, [1973] 2 SCR 860 and T. Govindaraja Mudaliar etc. v. The State of TamilNadu & Ors., [1973] 3 SCR 222, applied. Federal Power Commission v. Hope Gas Co., 320 US 591; Union of India & Anr. v. Cynamide India Ltd. &Anr., [1987] 2 SCC 720 and M/s. Gupta Sugar Works v. State of U.P. & Ors., [1987] Supp. SCC 476, referred to.

8.3 If the petitioners nevertheless incur losses, such losses need not necessarily have arisen by reason of geo- graphical zoning, but for reasons totally unconnected with it, such as the condition of the plant and machinery, quali- ty of management, investment policy, labour relations, etc. These are matters on which they have not furnished data. The decisions in Anakapalle, [1973] 2 SCR 882 and Panipat, [1973] 2 SCR 860 do not require reconsideration. [947D-E, 950E-F] 8.4 Whether the policy should be altered to divide the sugar industry into groups of units with similar cost char- acteristics with particular reference to recovery from sugarcane, duration of the crushing season, size and age of units and capital cost per tonne of output, without regard to their location, is a matter for the Central Government to decide. What is best for the sugar industry and in what manner the policy should be formulated and implemented, bearing in mind the fundamental object of the statute, is again a matter for decision exclusively within the province of the Central Government. Such matters do not ordinarily attract the power of judicial review. [949E-G] Secretary of Agriculture, etc. v. Central Roig Refining Company etc., 338 US 615-617, 94 L. ed. 391-392, referred to.

Mr. Venugopal submits that the present case is squarely covered by the decisions of this Court in Anakapalle Cooper- ative Agricultural & Industrial Society Ltd. etc. etc. v. Union of India & Ors., [1973] 2 SCR 882 and The Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills v. The Union of India, [1973] 2 SCR

860. He says that the petitioners have not made out a case for reconsideration of these two decisions. He refers to T. Govindaraja Mudaliar etc. etc. v. The State of Tamil Nadu & Ors., [1973] 3 SCR 222 at 228 to 230 and submits that this Court would not reexamine an earlier decision merely because certain aspects of the question had not been noticed in that decision. Mr. Venugopal, however, advocates neutralisation of the high cost incurred by the old units having lower crushing capacity by giving them an incremental levy price as recommended by the High Level Committee in 1980. Before we examine the provisions of section 3(3-C) in the context of the general scheme of the Act, we shall briefly refer to the observations of this Court in Anaka- palle, [1973] 2 SCR 882 and Panipat, [1973] 2 SCR 860. Grover, J. speaking for the Bench in Anakapalle (supra) states':

Referring to the legislative background of sub-section (3-C), this Court in Panipat (supra) observes:

"In order to appreciate the meaning of cls. (a), (b), (c) and (d), it must be remembered that ever since control on sugar was imposed, Government had set up expert committees to work out cost-schedules and fairprices. Starting in the beginning with an All-India cost-schedule worked out on the basis of the total production of sugar, the factories were later grouped together into zones or regions and different cost-schedules for different zones or regions were con- structed on the basis of which fair prices were worked out at which sugar was distributed and sold. The Tariff Commis- sion in 1958 and the Sugar Enquiry Commission in 1965 had worked out the zonal cost-schedules on the basis of averaged recovery and duration, the minimum and not the actual price of cane, the averaged conversion costs and recommended a reasonable return on the capital employed by the industry in the business of manufacturing sugar. This experience was before the legislature at the time when subsec. 3C was inserted in the Act. The legislature therefore incorporated the same formula in the new sub-section as the basis for working out the price. The purpose behind enacting the new sub-section was three-fold, to provide an incentive to increase production of sugar, encourage expan- sion of the industry, to devise a means by which the cane producer could get a share in the profits of the industry through prices for his cane higher than the minimum price fixed and secure to the consumer distribution of at least a reasonable quantity of sugar at a fair price. ' ' Clauses (a) to (d) of sub-section (3-C) postulate that the price of sugar must be determined having regard to the minimum price, if any, fixed for sugarcane by the Central Government, the manufacturing cost of sugar, the duty or tax applicable in the zone, and the securing of a reasonable return on the capital employed in the business of manufac- turing sugar. Referring to clause (d) of sub-section (3-C), this Court observes in Panipat (supra):