1. The two petitioners have been carrying on business for many years at Vakhar Baug at Sangli. Their business is in agricultural produce. It appears that before Sangli was merged in the State of Bombay certain facilities wore given by the State of Sangli for erecting a market for sale and purchase of agricultural produce in this Vakhar Baug area and in view of these facilities the petitioners case is that merchants invested a large amount in putting up buildings and giving facilities for opening of shops in these buildings so that the business of sale and. purchase of agricultural produce should be carried on.

The Government then passed an Act which is the Agricuitural Produce Markets Act, Bombay, Act XXII of 1939, and the Act was made applicable to the Sangli State after its merger. The date on which the Act was made applicable is 20-7-1948, and the result of the application of this Act was that agricultural produce could only be bought and sold under certain conditions and under certain limitations.

Various notifications were issued under the Act to which we shall presently refer, and the ultimate result was that the petitioners were prevented from doing their business in h