- (1.) Leave granted. The appellants are aggrieved by the dismissal of their writ petitions by the High Court of Bombay in which the appellants had challenged the validity of the Maharashtra Sugar Factories (Reservation of Areas and Regulation of Crushing and Sugarcane Supply) (Amendment) Order, 1997. This order was passed in exercise of the powers conferred by Paragraphs (a), (c) and (f) of sub-cl. (1) of Clause 6 and sub-cl. (a) of Clause 9 of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 read with Notification of Govt. of India, Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Community Development and Corporation (Department of Food), No. GSR. 1127/ESS. Com. Sugarcane, dated 16th July, 1966.
(2.) Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 was passed by the Govt. of India under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Clause 6 (a), (c) and (f) thereof reads as follows : "(a) reserve any area where sugarcane is grown (hereinafter in this clause referred to as reserved area) for a factory having regard to the crushing capacity of the factory, the availability of sugarcane in the reserved area and the need for production of sugar, with a view to enabling the factory to purchase the quantity of sugarcane required by it; (b) **************************** (c) fix, with respect to any specified sugarcane grower or sugarcane growers generally in reserved area, the quantity or percentage of sugarcane grown by such grower or growers as the case may be, which each grower by himself or, if he is a member of a co-operative society of sugarcane growers operating in the reserved area, through such society, shall supply to the factory concerned : (d) and (e) *********************** (f) prohibit or restrict or otherwise regulate the export of sugarcane from any area including a reserved area except under and in accordance with a permit issued in this behalf." Clause 11 of the said Order enables the Central Government to direct by Notification in Official Gazette that powers conferred upon it by that order shall be exercisable also by any officer or authority of the Central Government or a State Government or any officer or authority of the State Government subject to such restrictions, exceptions, conditions, if any, as may be specified in the direction. In exercise of the said power under clause 11, the Central Government issued a Notification dated 16th July, 1966 in the following terms : "N O T I F I C A T I O N New Delhi, the 16th July, 1966 G.S.R. 1127/Ess. Com./Sugarcane :- In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (11) of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 and in suspersession of the notification of the Government of India in the late Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Department of Food) No. G.S.R. 263/Ess. Com./Sugarcane, dated the 20th February, 1964 the Central Government hereby directs that powers conferred on it by Clauses 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the said Order shall be exercisable also by the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Maharashtra, Mysore, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and the Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry within their or, as the case may be, his respective jurisdiction. [No. 2(6)/66-S. Py] K. L. PASRICHA, JT. SECY."
(3.) Thus the power conferred on the Central Government by clause 6 of the Sugar (Control) Order, 1966 was exercisable also by the State Governments mentioned in the aforesaid Notification which included the State of Maharashtra. In 1984, the State Government passed the Maharashtra Sugar Factories (Reservation of Areas and Regulation of Crushing and Sugarcane Supply) Order, 1984. The necessity for passing the said order was set out in detail in the preamble to the order itself. It is unnecessary to reproduce the same here.;