Judgment

AYYANGAR, J. : These six petitions filed under Art. 32. of the Constitution raise for consideration three points: (1) the constitutional validity of the operative provisions of the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act (Central Act LXXIV of 1952) (to be referred to hereafter as the Act), (2) the validity of a notification dated February 11, 1959 issued under S. 15 of the Act by which gur was brought within the purview of the enactment with immediate effect, and (3) the validity of another notification of the Central Government issued simultaneously fixing the price at which Forward Contracts subsisting on February 11, 1959 was directed to be settled. For the purpose of understanding the points raised and the effect of the impugned notifications on the rights of the petitioners it is sufficient to refer to the facts of Petition No. 23 of 1959 which is typical of the cases before us.

2. The petitioner-Raghubar Dayal Jai Prakash is a firm carrying on the business of purchase and sale of gur and other commodities inter alia at Meerut. Traders like the petitioner had combined together to form a company registered under the Indian Companies Act under the name Kaisergunj Beopar Co. (