- (1.) THIS order will alsong with Harishankar and his wife Shrimati Gomti Devi, who are applicants in Miscellaneous Criminal Case No. 45 of. 1951, in the Court of the Judge-Magistrate, Hoshangabad, under Section 7 of the Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946, for contravention of Clause 3 of the Cotton Textiles (Control of Movement) Order, 1948. They made applications to this Court under Article 228 of the Constitution and raised in each of them the following grounds: 1. Section 3 of the Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946, is 'ultra vires' of the Government of India Act, 1935, and the Constitution of India, as it delegates legislative powers; and
(2.) THE Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946, has not been validly extended. In their supplementary applications, they raised the following contentions: 1. The power to make orders given to the Central Government by Section 3 of the Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946, could not be delegated by the Central Government to any officer or authority subordinate to it; and 2. Section 3 of the Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946, is 'ultra vires' of the Government of India Act, 1935, and the Constitution of India, inasmuch as it legislates on subjects in the State List.
(3.) BOTH the applications came up before Hemeon J. who held that substantial questions of law with regard to the interpretation of the Constitution of India as well as the Government of India Act, 1935, are involved in these applications and therefore he referred them under Rule 9 (2) (a) of Chapter 1 of the High Court Rules to the Chief Justice, with a recommendation that they be placed before a Bench of two Judges for decision. The applications were accordingly placed before a Bench consisting of Mangalmurti J. and one of us (Mudholkar J. ). After hearing the applications on the 3rd September 1951, the Bench withdrew the cases from the Court of the Judge-Magistrate under Article 228 of the Constitution and directed that they be heard on merits. In due course the cases came up for hearing before us.;