- (1.) This appeal by special leave calls in question the correctness of an order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad whereby Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 58900 of 2007 filed by the respondent-company has been allowed, the order passed by the Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Ghaziabad and that passed by the Deputy Director, Rajya Krishi Utpadan Mandi Parishad, Meerut in revision set aside. The High Court has further directed the Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Ghaziabad to make a fresh assessment of the market fee for the period in question after providing an opportunity of being heard to the writpetitioner or his authorised agent. The challenge arises in the following factual backdrop. The respondent-company is engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of milk products including desi ghee which it markets under the brand name 'Paras'. The company has set up a manufacturing unit at Sahibabad, District Ghaziabad, which falls within the market area of Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Ghaziabad ('KUMS' for short). The company's case is that it sells the milk products manufactured by it through its consignee agents located at several places in different parts of the country. A list of 15 consignee agents spread over the States of West Bengal, Gujarat, Goa, Orissa, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and New Delhi was in that regard enclosed by the respondent with the writ petition filed by it before the High Court. These consignee agents, according to the respondent-company, provide to the company services like, unloading of goods from the trucks, storage in the depots of the company, dispatch of the stocks by trucks to redistribution stockists as per sale orders, raising sale invoices on behalf of the company and collecting payments for the stocks sold. In terms of a show-cause notice issued by the appellant-Samiti, the respondent-company was called upon to produce all relevant documents with regard to the production, sale-purchase, movement and storage of its product for the relevant period. This notice was triggered by a declaration received from the respondent-company that consignment note No.94 dated 14 th May, 2004 dispatching 5250 Kgs. of desi ghee to Anand Sales Corporation at Ahmedabad was a stock transfer which did not require any gate pass for its movement outside the market area. On receipt of the notice the respondent-company filed a reply explaining the nature of the transaction and claiming that transfer of stocks to its godowns outside the mandi area was on "stock transfer basis" and not pursuant to any sale effected within the mandi area. The Mandi Samiti remained dissatisfied with that explanation with the result that by an order dated 27 th April, 2005 the Samiti held that obtaining of gate passes after producing evidence to rebut the presumption arising under Explanation to Section 17(iii)(b) of the Uttar Pradesh Krishi Utpadan Mandi Adhiniyam, 1964 was necessary. The Samiti further held that the respondent-company had not adduced sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption that the movement of goods from the mandi area to places outside such area was pursuant to a sale effected within the said area. The Samiti accordingly levied a market fee of Rs.9,39,200/- and development fee of Rs.2,34,800/- totalling Rs.11,74,000/- for 3906.80 quintals of desi ghee taken out from the market area of KUMS, Ghaziabad under Section 17(iii)(b) of the Adhiniyam mentioned above. It was further directed that in future the respondent-company shall produce the details of its business and obtain gate passes whenever it removes ghee from the market area of KUMS, Ghaziabad. Aggrieved by the order passed by the Samiti, the respondent-company filed a revision under Section 32 of the Adhiniyam before the Regional Deputy Director, Rajya Krishi Utpadan Mandi Parishad, U.P. which was dismissed by the Deputy Director by its order dated 31 st October, 2007. The Deputy Director while affirming the order passed by the Samiti held that the transactions in question were not by way of stock transfers but sales within the market area of KUMS Ghaziabad, hence exigible to market fee. The respondent-company then filed Writ Petition No.58900 of 2007 before the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, challenging the orders passed by the Samiti and the Deputy Director on several grounds. The High Court has, by the order impugned in the present appeal, allowed the said petition set aside the orders of the Samiti and the Deputy Director and remanded the matter back to the Samiti for a fresh assessment in accordance with law. While doing so, the High Court has not only found fault with the approach adopted by the Samiti and the Deputy Director but also commented adversely about the capacity of the officers making the orders in deciding the questions of law and fact that arise in connection with such transactions. According to the High Court the entire approach adopted by the Samiti and the Deputy Director was biased, arbitrary, and authoritative and based on a misreading of the legal provisions and the judgments of this Court. The High Court felt that all this happened because the officers who were handling the issue of such importance were not equipped with the requisite knowledge about the legal principles and procedure applicable while dealing with complex questions of law and fact. More importantly, the High Court evolved a new and somewhat novel procedure for examination of the issues involved in such cases while providing for safeguards by way of securing the amount claimed by the Mandi Samiti towards market fee. The High Court observed: "The market fee is levied on the sale of agricultural produce in the market area. The Explanation only raises a rule of presumption which may be rebutted by manufacturing trader or the trader as the case may be. The Court cannot presume that the movement of goods cannot be occasioned unless the sale is affected. The nature of evidence to be produced at the time of gate pass is a contentious matter which has not been resolved in the last three decades. A number of attempts made by the courts have not succeeded in proper understanding of law by the officers and employees of the market committees and Mandi Parishad. In the circumstances, in addition to the directions, which have been given by the judgments cited above, the Court directs that the Petitioner will furnish to Secretary, KUMS Ghaziabad, a 'revolving bank guarantee' of the amount of market fees on yearly basis based on the average of the historical sales and payments of the market fees in the last three years. The bank guarantee will be furnished on the first of April and unless revoked, it shall be revalidated every year. The market committee will issue gate passes on a declaration made by the petitioners that the goods are moving by way of stock transfer and have not been sold. They will produce the consignment note, and the proof of dispatch giving names and addresses of stockists. These documents will constitute sufficient proof of rebuttal at the stage of a request for gate pass. The market committee will assess the market fee on yearly basis after 31 st March of the next year and consider documents furnished by way of rebuttal of the presumption of sale in respect of each and every transactions separately. It will not be sufficient to say that the gate pass was not obtained or obtained without payment of market fees or that documents are not sufficient. The order would show application of mind and reasoning for both accepting or rejecting the proofs on the furnished in respect of each and every transactions separately."
(2.) On behalf of the appellant-Samiti it was argued by Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, learned senior counsel, that the observations made by the High Court regarding the capacity of the officers to understand and effectively determine the contentious issues that arose for determination was wholly unjustified. He submitted that instead of finding fault with the capacity of the officers to understand the issues, the High Court would have done better in pointing out the errors committed by the authorities below in either appreciating the law or applying the same to the facts of the case at hand. He urged that the officers had appreciated the evidence adduced by the respondent properly and were well within their powers to reject the same for reasons which they had set out in their respective orders. So long as there was no perversity in the approach adopted by the Samiti and the Deputy Director in appreciating evidence and/or the application of principles of law to the facts of the case, the mere fact that those officers were not formally trained in law was no reason to dub them as incompetent or incapable, especially when any such training was no guarantee against commission of mistakes.
(3.) It was further argued that the High Court had completely overlooked the fact that the respondentcompany had, in complete breach of the directions and procedure sanctioned by the orders passed by this Court, removed the stock of ghee without the requisite gate passes necessary for such removal. The High Court had also committed an error in evolving a procedure which was different from the one that was stipulated by this Court in Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti and Ors. v. Shree Mahalaxmi Sugar Works and Ors., 1995 Supp3 SCC 433 and Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti v. M/s Saraswati Cane Crusher & Co. & Ors. (Civil Appeal Nos. 1769- 1773 of 1998) decided on 25 th March, 1998. Mr. Sudhir Chandra appearing for the respondent supported the order passed by the High Court and prayed for dismissal of this appeal.;