Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

'I he prefatory note to the Adhiniyam as extracted from the 'Statement of Objects and Reasons may be noted. It reads:

"The present chaotic state of affairs as obtaining in agricultural produce markets is an acknowledged fact. There are innumerable charges, levies and exactions which the agricultural producer is required to pay without having any say in the proper utilisation of the amount so paid by him. In matters of dispute between the seller and the buyer, the former is generally put at a disadvantage by being given arbitrary awards. The producer is also denied a large part of his produce by manipulation and defective use of weights and scales in the market The Government of India and the various committees and commissions appointed to study the condition of agricultural markets in the country have also been inviting the attention of the State Government from time to lime towards improving the conditions of these markets. The proposal to enact a marketing legislation was first taken up in 1938; but it could not go through as the then Ministry went out of office soon. after its inception . The Planning Commission stressed long ago that legislation in respect c f regulation of markets should be enacted and enforced by 1955-56. Most of the other States have already passed legislation in this respect. The proposed measure to regulate the markets in this State has been designed with a view to achieving the following direction-

(emphasis supplied) The prefatory note shows that the object of the Adhiniyam is to save the agricultural producer from innumerable charges, levies and exactions and to enable him to have a say in the proper utilisation of the amounts paid by him, to reduce the multiple charges, levies exactions charged from producer-sellers and generally to help the agricultural producer to sell his produce to his best advantage. The objects set out in the prefatory note are reflected in a concised form in the preamble to the Adhiniyam which says that it is "An Act to provide for the regulation of sale and purchase of agricultural produce and for the establishment, superintendence and control of markets therefore in Uttar Pradesh". The preamble also speaks of the necessity to provide for the regulation of sale and purchase of agricultural produce and the establishment, superintendence and control of markets therefore in Uttar Pradesh. 'Thus the object of the Adhiniyam as seen from the prefatory note and preamble is to protect the agricultural producer from exploitation. Protection of any industrial producer is not the object of the Adhiniyam.

Mr. Lal Narain Sinha, appearing for the Parishad and Mr. Thakur appearing for the Market Committees have, in my view, conceded by their submission that khandsari is genus and khandsari sugar is a speci that what the petitioners produce in their mills by the open pan process is `'khandsari sugar" and not "khandsari". Dr. Chitale appearing for the respondents in W. Ps. 13-8-60 of 1981 has also done so but in a slightly different way by saying that what the petitioners produce is khandsari, whether it is more or less refined than khandsari as such. Mr. Sinha conceded in the course of his arguments that protection of the agricultural producer was the object when the original idea of the Adhiniyam started and he submitted that the object has now become widened and it is now not a legislation for protecting the interests of only agricultural producers and that it has become a marketing legislation under entry 28 of List II in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution and industrial products also can be included in the schedule. There is a further implied submission in this argument of Mr. Sinha that khandsari sugar is an industrial product as it undoubtedly is. If the original idea as indicated in the prefatory note and preamble of the Adhiniyam was to protect the interests of agricultural producers in disposing of his products such as paddy, rice, silk, eggs, honey, fish and the like, and the Adhiniyam was enacted with that object in my view. it cannot be converted into a general marketing legislation by the mere inclusion of industrial products, not possible of production by agricultural producers, either in the schedule or in the definition of agricultural produce in s. 2 (a) of the Adhiniyam. Therefore, it is not possible to accept the argument of Mr. Sinha that the Adhiniyam originally intended to protect the interests of agricultural producers has become a marketing legislation under entry 28 of List II in the Seventh Schedule by the mere fact of inclusion of one or more industrial products in the definition of agricultural produce in s 2 (a) of the Adhiniyam.

Mr. Thakur submitted that it is not the only purpose of the Adhiniyam to protect the interests of the agricultural producer that a number of other objects are sought to be achieved by the Adhiniyam and that if the object of the Adhiniyam was to protect the interests of agricultural producers alone, the levy of market foe would have been confined to first sales of agricultural produce. Mr. Thakur would thus say that the only object of the Adhiniyam is not protection of the interests of the agricultural producer in the disposal of his products to his best advantage. The question whether the levy of market fee under the Adhiniyam is at a single point or whether it is a multi-point levy was not elaborated by Mr. Thakur. Therefore, it is not possible to draw any inference from his submission based on the point of levy of market fee under the Act though it was pointed out by him that under the scheme of the Adhiniyam sales by producers to traders and by traders to other traders but not retail sales to consumers are subject to the levy of market fee provided that the produce sold is agricultural produce. Mr. Thakur submitted that the levy under the Adhiniyam is on the khandsari trader and not on khandsari producer. That would be 80 if the item with reference to which levy is made is one produced by an agricultural producer to protect whose interests the Adhiniyam has been enacted. Khandsari sugar produced by the petitioners in their mills by the open pan process is not an agricultural produce but an industrial produce. Mr. Thakur is right in his submission that the preamble could be looked into only in the case of ambiguity. The prefatory note and the preamble can be looked into only in the present case as there is dispute between the parties on the question whether khandsari sugar" produced by the petitioners, which is not included in the schedule or definition of agricultural produce in the Adhiniyam, while "khandsari" is mentioned in the definition of agricultural produce in s. 2(a) thereof can be the subject matter of levy of market fee under the Adhiniyam. It is not possible to accept the submission of Dr Chitale that what the petitioners produce is an agricultural produce, be it more or less refined than khandsari. What the petitioners produce in their modern mills by the open pan process is khandsari sugar, an industrial produce, and not an agricultural produce which is produced by agriculturists. It is admitted by Dr. Chitale that the petitioners' factories are working under licences and that it is not obligatory on agricultural producers producing khandsari in the indigenous method to obtain licences for producing the same.