- (1.) TKIS judgment will dispose of 211 civil writ petitions (Nos. 2513, 3261, 3270 to 3274, 3712 to 3720, 3722 to 3729, 3753 to 3757, 3761, 3790, 3913 to 3954, 4205, 4206, 4291 to 4293, 4303, 4323, 4366, 4373 to 4376, 4311, 4315 to 4387, 4395, 4396. 4402, 4403, 4405, 4409 to 4412, 4421, 4436, 4438, 4440, 4441, 4467, 4441, 4419, 4544, 4548, 4549, 4570, 4572, 4580, 4514, 4607, 4610, 4617, 4625, 4688, 4692, 4699, 4709, 4717 to 4727, 4730, 4741, 4743, 4775, 4780 to 4782, 4792, 4800, 4818, 4844, 4865, 4866, 4869, 4870, 4874 to 4885, 4192 to 4906, 4910, 4911, 4919, 4923, 4924, 4935, 4947, 4962 to 4964, 4967 to 4972, 4985, 4990, 5002 to 5004, 5007, 5008, 5028, 5029, 5035, 5052, 5053, 5059, 5081, 5084, 5100, 5105, 5109, 5113, 5117 and 5122 of 1974) as common questions of law are involved. 127 writ petitions relate to the market committees in the State of Haryana and 84 to the market committees in the State of Punjab.
(2.) THE Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act (Punjab Act 23 of 1961) (hereinafter referred to as the Act), received the assent of the President of India on May 18, 1961. and was published in the Punjab Government Gazette (Extraordinary), Legislative Supplement dated May 26, 1961, and came into force at once. Section 23 of this Act read as under:- " section 23. A committee may, subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government in this behalf, levy on ad valorem basis fees on the agricultural produce bought or sold by licensees in the notified market area at a rate not exceeding fifty naye paise for every one hundred rupees; Provided that- (a) no fee shall be leviable in respect of any transaction in which delivery of the agricultural produce bought or sold is not actually made; and (b) a fee shall be leviable only on the parties to 2 transaction in which delivery is actually made. " In accordance with the provisions of this section, the market committees levied a fee of forty naye paise per one hundred rupees and no dealer felt aggrieved.
(3.) THE Harayana Government substituted the words "one rupee" in place of "fifty naye paise" by tie Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment) Act (28 of 1969), which came into force on September 3, 1969, and thereafter the market committees in tke State began to charge fee at tke rate of one rupee per one hundred rupees in accordance with that amendment. The objects and reasons for making the increase in the rate of fee were stated as under:- " fifty paise ad valorem fee is provided on every 100 rupees as value of the agricultural produce bought or sold in the notified markets under Section 23 of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961. Market fee is an important source of income of the market committees. In order to make an increasing use of the market committee's funds for development purposes in accordance with the provisions of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961, it is necessary that the resources of the market committees should oe increased. It was considered absolutely necessary to increase the minimum market fee to rupee one on the Rabi produce arriving in the mandis. In order to achieve this object, tbe minimum market fee was increased on the promulgation of an Ordinance, The Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment)' which is now being replaced by amending the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961. " Thereafter, by the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment) Act (21 of 1973), the words "except in the case of agricultural produce brought for processing", were added after the words "provided that. " This amendment is not material for the decision of the points of law involved in these cases. The words "one rupee and fifty paise" were substituted for the words "one rupee" in Section 23 of the Act by the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment) Act (10 of 1974), which came into force on January 30, 1974. The objects and reasons for the increase were stated as under:- "at present an ad valorem fee of one rupee is provided on every one hundred rupees as value of the agricultural produce bought and sold in the notified market committees under Section 23 of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961. The market committees are required to play a vital role in the development of roads for transportation, setting up godowns for storage of agricultural produce, and providing other facilities to the growers in the notified market areas. It has, therefore, been decided to augment the resources of the market committees by increasing tke said market fee from one rupee to rupee one and fifty paise. " In fact, no fee was increased by the market committees in pursuance of this amending Act because the increase in the rate of fee was not considered sufficient by the Agricultural Marketing Board to carry out the development projects which had been planned. A suggestion was, therefore, made to increase the rate to two rupees per one hundred rupees. This increase, was effected in Section 23 of the Act by the Punjab Agricultural Produce (Haryana Amendment) Ordinance 2 of 1974. which came into force on April 13, 1974. Thereafter, this Ordinance was replaced by the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Second Amendment) Act (No. 17 of 1974), which came into force on July 23, 1974. The objects and reasons for the increase were stated as under :- "at present under Section 23 of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961, an ad valorem fee of rupee one arid fifty paise on agricultural produce worth rupees one hundred bought and sold in the notified market committee, is provided. The market committees are required to play vital role in the development of roads for transportation, setting up godowns for storage of agricultural produce and to provide other facilities to the growers in the notified market areas. It has, therefore, been decided to augment the resources of the market committees by increasing the said market fee from rupee one and fifty paise to rupees two. " The result is that the maximum rate of fee has been prescribed as two rupees per one hundred rupees in Section 23 of the Act. The Marketing Board has directed every market committee to charge fee at that rate. The increase in the rate of fee from one rupee to one rupee and fifty paise and then to two rupees has been challenged in the writ petitions which pertain to the State of Haryana. ;