( 1 ) THIS is a petition by a member of the Vyara Agricuitural Produce Market Committee challenging the voters lists prepared for the election of the Committee to be held on 16-4-1976.

( 2 ) INITIALLY there was one common Market Committee for talukas Songadh and Vyara but the Government took a decision to establish two separate committees for these two different areas of Songadh and Vyara talukas and this decision was made operative from 22-1-1974. On this decision being implemented the earlier Market Committee which was for the composite market area of two talukas stood dissolved and the first Market Committee for Vyara taluka came to be appointed by the Government by nominating members. The petitioner was one of such nominees of the Government and in that capacity he was the member of the Market Committee.

( 3 ) AS said above the first election to elect the members of the Market Committee was to take place on 16-4-76 and one of the preliminaries required to he undergone for the purpose was preparation of three lists. Sec. 11 of the Gujarat Agricultural Produce Markets Act 1963 deals with the constitution or composition of Market Committees Eight agriculturists as defined in cl. (ii) of sec. 2 of the Act constitute the first category of members. These agriculturists are to be elected by the members of the Managing Committees of Cooperative Societies (other than cooperative marketing societies) dispensing agricultural credit in the market area. The second category of members four in number are to be elected from amongst themselves by the traders holding general licences and as per the definition of the word trader occurring in cl. (xxiii) of sec. 2 of the Act even a cooperative society which carries on the business of buying or selling of agricultural produce or of processing of agricultural produce for sale also can be a trader. The third category of members two in number are to be elected from amongst the members of co operative marketing societies and they are to be the representative of such cooperative marketing societies. The word cooperative marketing society is defined in cl. (v) of sec. 2 of the Act.

( 4 ) THE petitioners contention was that the voters lists that were prepared for the purpose of ensuing election were objected to by him and others. The foremost contention of the petitioner was that various cooperative societies having traders licence and therefore finding place in the second constituency of traders for the purpose of traders representative had wrongly been given a place through the members of their managing committees in the list of persons who were entitled to elect 8 agriculturists to represent the interests of Agricuiturists on the committee. It was further contended by the petitioner that 24 societies set cut by him in paragraph 7 of his petition were as a matter of fact all cooperative marketing societies because they were engaged in the business of buying and selling of agricultural produce and were holding general licence for the purpose and so their proper place was in the third constituency of representatives of cooperative marketing societies and not even in the traders constituency or in the agriculturists constituency. For the purpose of convenience I shall refer to the three constituencies as the Agriculturists constituency Traders constituency and cooperative marketing societies constituency. As the petitioners objections were over ruled and the Director of Agricultural Marketing and Rural Finance the respondent no. 2 who is the head executive officer dealing with Agricultural Produce Market Committees throughout the State did not heed the representations made to him the petitioner had moved this Court for quashing of the three lists of voters published by the respondent under Rule 8 of the Gujarat Agricultural Produce Markets Rules 1965 Annexure A and to direct the respondents to exclude from the list of voters of the agriculturists constituency members of the Managing Com