Judgment

D.P. Mohapatra, J.-Though the cases from which these appeals arise were disposed of by judgments rendered by the High Court of Himachal Pradesh on different dates the questions of fact and law involved in all the cases are similar. With the consent of learned counsel for the parties all the cases were heard together and they are being disposed of by this common judgment.

2. The State of Himachal Pradesh is well known throughout the country for its apples. In the State there are large tracts of apple orchard and a good number of persons are engaged in growing apples. The apple season in the State is between the months of July to October. In the year 1983 the apple orchards in different areas of the State like Jubbal and Rohru were afflicted by a disease called ‘Scab’ rendering the fruits unfit for human consumption. Feeling concerned about the heavy financial loss which apple growers in the State were facing and keeping in view the danger to public health if the scab affected apples are sold in markets, the State Government took a policy decision to purchase the diseased fruits and destroy the same. For implementa­tion of the policy a set of modalities were formulated in whic