Chakravartti, C.J. - (1.) THIS is a reference under Chap. 5, Rule 2, Rules of the Original Side, by Bachawat J. of an application made to him, praying that a certain award be declared null and void or, alternatively, that the validity and existence of the contract to which the award related, be adjudged and determined and that the award be set aside. The learned Judge thought that the questions raised before him were such that they might be dealt with more advantageously by a larger Bench, particularly in view of the fact that no appeal would lie from his decision on those questions. He thought further that the whole application might be dealt with by the larger Bench, because on the remaining questions too, the parties had agreed to proceed only on the affidavits.
(2.) THE facts are simple, but in order to set out intelligibly the questions of law which have arisen out of them, it is necessary to refer first to the relevant provisions of law and their history. In 1950, the West Bengal Legislature passed an Act, called the West Bengal Jute (Control of Prices) Act, which was directed as regulating prices of jute and empowered the Government to fix maximum prices by notification. The Act, which was Act 6 of 1950, came into force on the 15th March of that year and maximum prices were fixed by certain notifications. On 14-12-1950, the Governor of West Bengal promulgated an Ordinance, called the Raw Jute (Central Jute Board and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (17 of 1950), for the better regulation of the jute trade. It was stated in the preamble 'inter alia' that the owners of the jute mills were not being able to secure adequate supplies of jute at the maximum prices fixed under Act 6 of 1950 and it had become expedient to set up a Central Jute Board in West Bengal for ensuring an equitable supply of raw jute to the owners of the different jute-mills. Accordingly, Section 4 of the Ordinance provided for the constitution of a Central Jute Board "as soon as may be" after its commencement. By Section 6, provision was made for the manner in which contracts for the sale and purchase of raw jute between sellers and owners of jute-mills were to be entered into and it was laid down that such contracts would have to be made through the Central Jute Board according to a certain procedure. Section 5(1) prohibited the sale and purchase of raw jute to and by owners of jute-mills except in pursuance of a contract entered into in the manner provided for in Section 6 and Section 7(1) imposed a similar prohibition on giving and accepting delivery. Section 5(2) declared that any contract entered into for the sale or the supply of raw jute with the owner of a jute-mill except in the manner provided in Section 6 would be void and of no effect. Section 7(3) provided that Sections 5, 6 and 7 would come into effect on and from "the appointed day" which, under Section 2(1), meant the day specified by the State Government by notification in the Official Gazette as the appointed day for the purpose of the Ordinance. By a notification dated 29-12-1950 and published in an extraordinary issue of the Calcutta Gazette of the same date, 30-12-1950 was specified as the appointed day for the purposes of Sections 5, 6 and 7.
(3.) THE Ordinance which consisted of 15 sections was subsequently replaced by an Act, called the Raw Jute (Central Jute Board and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (6 of 1951) which added one more section. THE Act came into force on 21-3-1951. THE first fifteen of its sections were virtually verbatim reproductions of the corresponding sections of the Ordinance, and Section 16 newly added, read as follows: "16. THE Central Jute Board constituted, any rule made, any notification or license issued, any direction given, any contract entered into, any minimum price fixed, anything done or any section whatsoever taken under the Raw Jute (Central Jute Board and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, 1950, shall, on the said Ordinance ceasing to operate, be deemed to have been constituted, made, issued, given, entered into, fixed, done or taken under this Act as if this Act had commenced on the 14th day of December, 1950.";