JUDGMENT

V.N. Khare, J.-The appellant herein is a company registered under the Indian Companies Act and has its head office and factory outside the State of Bihar. The company manufactures fruit drinks and markets it under the brand name of Frooti and Appy in the State of Bihar through its agents. The Bihar Legislature has enacted an Act known as Bihar Agricultural Produce Market Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ). The object of the Act is to provide better regulation of buying and selling of agricultural produce and the arrangement of market for agricultural produce in the State of Bihar. Under Section 27 of the Act, the Market Committee set up under the Act has power to levy and collect market fee on the agricultural produce, which are specified in the Schedule and are bought or sold in the market area. It is not disputed that the entire district of Patna is declared as a market area. Section 2(1)(a) of the Act defines agricultural produce which runs as under:

" `Agricultural produce means all produce whether processed or non-processed, manufactured or not, of Agriculture, Horticulture, Plantation, animal Husbandry, Forest, Sericulture, Pisciculture, and inclu