Judgment

SEN, J. :- The only question involved in this and the connected Special Leave Petitions directed against a judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court is whether the M. P. (Foodstuffs) Civil Supplies Public Distribution Scheme, 1981, formulated by the State Government under sub-clause (d) of Clause 2 of the M. P. Foodstuffs (Distribution) Control Order, 1960,. introducing a new scheme for running of Government fair price shops by agents to be appointed under a Government scheme giving preference to cooperative societies, in replacement of the earlier scheme of running such fair price shops through retail dealers appointed under Clause 3 of the Order, is violative of Articles 14 and 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution.

2. To give a short resume The M. P. Foodstuff (Distribution) Control Order, 1960 (hereinafter called the Control Order) was made by the State Government in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act. 1955, read with Government of India, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Department of Food), Order No. GSR 1088 dated Nov. 15, 1958, to provide for distribution of foodstuffs at fair prices under a Government Scheme. The scheme of the Control Order is that with a view to distributing foodstuffs at fair prices through fair price shops, the Collector would, under the Government Scheme, appoint any person as a retail dealer in respect of. foodstuffs under Cl. 3 of the Control Order. The Control Order was designed to" enable the State Government to distribute foodstuffs at fair prices through fair price shops. In 1977, as a matter of policy it was decided to appoint unemployed graduates as retail dealers of Government fair price shops. The whole system of distribution of foodstuffs at fair price shops to the consumers, however, collapsed due to flagrant violations of the Control Order by the retail dealers. It was found that the shops were opened well after appointed time, shops were closed well before the time, the consumers were not able to obtain their ration easily and very often the traders would withold the foodstuffs in stock and refuse to sell the same to the consumers, causing serious inconvenience and harassment to them. Another great drawback which the Government experienced was that stocks which were required to be lifted by the traders were not lifted within the time and more often than not the stocks would become wasted and rendered useless.

3. In July 1980, the Chief Minister called a Conference of high officials including the Director Civil and Food Supplies and the Collectors of various districts. The Collectors narrated their experience about the unsatisfactory manner of working of the then existing system of running fair price shops through retail dealers and spoke of the plight of the poor consumer. There was a meaningful, close and in-depth discussion at the. Conference and in the light of the experience gained, the Government decided that it was necessary to replace the existing system of running fair price shops through retail dealers by the Government directly running these fair price shops through agents appointed by the Collector. It was also decided that these fair price shops should be run by consumers co-operative societies. In the wake of the changes to be brought about, the State Government, on Oct. 31, 1980, accordingly amended the Control Order by deletting the provisions relating to running of fair price shops through retail dealers and providing for running these shops under a Government scheme. The expression fair price shops has been defined by the newly added Clause 2 (bb) to mean a shop set up by the Government under the Government Scheme On Mar. 20, 1981, the State Government promulgated the M. P. (Foodstuffs) Civil Supplies Public Distribution, Scheme, 1981.

4. Under the impugned scheme, the Collector, by virtue of Cl. 3, was to establish fair price shops. in establishing the fair price shops, the Collector was to follow certain guidelines. These a