S. B. MAJMUDAR, J.

( 1 ) THIS petition raises a short question about the period of limitation for filing an appeal before the Director of Agricultural Marketing and Rural Finance respondent No. 1 herein under the provisions of sec. 27 sub-sec. (5) of the Gujarat Agricultural Produce Market Act 1963 hereinafter referred to as the Act. It also raises the question as to whether respondent No. 1 has the power and authority to condone the delay in preferring an appeal before him. In order to appreciate the nature of controversy posed for my consideration in the present petition it is necessary to have a look at a few relevant facts.

( 2 ) THE petitioner had applied for grant of licence as General Commission Agent for the year 1980-81. The said application was given to respondent No. 2 Market Committee which is registered under sec. 9 of the Act and which is having its office in the city. Upto April 1980 the wholesale business in the vegetables was carried on at Bhagubhais Vanda situated in Dhalgarvad in the city. The said wholesale market has been shifted to the new market situated outside Jamalpur gate known as Sardar Patel Market. The petitioner had a licence of General Commission Agent at the time when the wholesale business was carried on at Bhagubhais Vanda. As stated above the petitioner had applied for grant of a fresh licence as General Commission Agent for the year 1980-81 to the respondent No. 2 Market Committee. Under sec. 27 sub-sec. (1) of the Act the concerned Market Committee subject to the rules made in that behalf can grant or renew a general licence or a special licence for the purpose of any specific transaction or transactions to a trader general commission agent broker weighman surveyor warehouseman or any person to operate in the market area or part thereof or after recording its reasons therefore refuse to grant or renew any such licence. The petitioner had accordingly given his application to the 2nd respondent invoking its power under sec. 27 (1) for granting the said licence to the petitioner. The said 2nd respondent Market Committee by its resolution passed at its meeting on 25/04/1981 refused the petitioners prayer for grant of a licence for the year 1980-81 on the ground that he had violated the bye-laws of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee and the conditions of licence held by him. I am not at all concerned with the merits of the said refusal and hence I do not dilate on that question any further. The decision of the 2nd respondent Market Committee refusing to grant the requisite licence to the petitioner for the year 1980-81 was communicated to the petitioner by a letter of the Secretary of the Market Committee dated 6-5-81. It appears that the said letter was received by the petitioner on 8-5-81. The aforesaid order of the second respondent refusing to grant the requisite licence to the petitioner as General Commission Agent is appealable to the first respondent Director under section 27 (5) which provides that any person aggrieved by an order refusing to grant or renew a licence or suspending or cancelling any licence may appeal within thirty days from the date of the comuunication of the order to him. Once an order was made by the Market Committee under the Act as in the present case it become appealable to the respondent No. 1 herein within 30 days from its communication to the petitioner. Accordingly the normal period of limitation of 30 days would have expired on 7-6-81 and by that time the petitioner was required to prefer an appeal before the first respondent Director of Agricultural Marketing and Rural Finance but in the meanwhile the petitioner preferred a writ petition being Civil Application No. 1844 of 1981 on 19/05/1981 in this High Court. He challenged the decision of the second respondent Market Committee refusing to grant him the requisite licence for the year 1980-81 and he also challenged some of the provisions of the Gujarat Agricultural Produce Markets Act and the Rules. T

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