D.S. Tewatia, J. - (1.) THE question that primarily falls for consideration in these writ petitions Nos. 1010, 1323, 1373, 1379, 4984, 5170, 5178 to 5181, 5265, 5332, 5378, 5475, 5914 and 6886 of 1974; 284, 1320, 6605, 6834, 6835, 6841, 6842, 7041 and 7449 of 1975; 121 of 1976; and 1836, 1842, 1907, 1908, 1951, 1952, 1955 to 1959, 1962, 2020, 2021, 2085, and 2263 of 1979 (in all 42 writ petitions) is as to whether the market -fee could be validly imposed on the dealers in the position of the Petitioners who allegedly bring various items of agricultural produce into market area for manufacturing.
(2.) THIRTY -seven writ petitions are preferred by the Petitioners who bring in wool for manufacturing woollen yarn and blankets, three are preferred by those who bring in paddy for shelling and manufacturing rice from it, one by a dealer who manufactures poultry feed; and another by a dealer who brings in gram for manufacturing Dal. Since the question of law that falls for consideration is identical to all the writ petitions, a common order is proposed. Before dealing with the question posed, a short history of the legislation dealing with the matter deserves notice. Till 7th May, 1973, market -committees could levy fees only on the agricultural produce bought or sold by the licencees in the notified area and no such fee was leviable on agricultural produce brought for processing by the licensees in the notified market area. Section 23 of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act (Punjab Act No. 23 of 1961), hereinafter called the Act, as enforced in the State of Haryana, which is charging section, at that time, was in the following terms: 23. A Committee may, subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government in this behalf, levy on ad valorem basis fee on the agricultural produce bought or sold by licensees in the notified market area at a rate not exceeding fifty naya 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 a transaction in which delivery is actually made. Section 23 of the Act was amended by the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment) Act No. 21 of 1973 and it then ran as under: 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 or brought for processing by licensees in the notified area at a rate not exceeding two rupees for every one hundred rupees: Provided that except in case of agricultural produce brought for processing - - (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 a transaction in which delivery is actually made. The aforesaid amendment in Section 23 and levy of market -fee as a result of the said amendment was challenged by some of the licensees on the writ side, one of such writ petitions being Civil Writ No. 1010 of 1974.
(3.) DURING the pendency of such writ petitions, the amendment of Section 23 of the Act affected by Haryana Amending Act 21 of 1973 was withdrawn by Haryana Amending Act No. 5 of 1976 with effect from 11th February, 1976; but soon thereafter Section 23 of the Act was again amended by Haryana Amendment Act No. 19 of 1979 and after the latest amendment, it emerges in the following terms: 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 or brought for processing by dealers in the notified area at a rate not exceeding two rupees for every one hundred rupees: Provided that except in case of agricultural produce brought for processing - - (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 a transaction in which delivery is actually made. The market -fee sought to be imposed in pursuance of the latest amendment has been challenged in some of the writ petitions. As a result of this latest amendment, Section 23 of the Act is almost brought back to the position in which it stood after the amendment effected by the Haryana Amendment Act No. 21 of 1973, the only difference being that earlier it was the 'licensees' who were made liable to pay the market -fee, while in the latest amendment, the said expression of 'licensees' has been replaced by the expression 'dealers'. The Petitioners in all the writ petitions are, however, both 'licensees' as also 'dealers' and, therefore, the variation noticed above is not of any relevance to the merits of the case.;