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1983 Supreme(Guj) 224

Gujarat High Court
Judgename :N.H.BHATT
GUNVANTRAI MANIBHAI DESAI - Appellant
Versus
B.NARSINHMNV - Respondent
S.C.A. 3717 of 1980
Decided On : 12/15/1983

Advocates Appeared: K.G.VAKHARIA, R.R.SHAH

Headnote:

Gujarat Agricultural Produce Market Act, 1963 – Sections 11 and 2 - Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1962 - Section 12 – Agriculturist – Voting - Petition has been filed by one citizen claiming to be a voter on voters list to elect agriculturists prepared for purpose of constitution of Agriculture Produce Market Committee - He was holding at relevant time Office of Vice-President-President of said Committee - He filed petition at time when elections for constitution MUCH water as observed by me at outset has flown beneath bridge and as per judgment of Division Bench of this High Court in Letters patent appeal new voters list will have to be prepared taking into account changes which might have taken place since then – Held, It is really unfortunate that State Government despite having a number of legally trained persons to advise it has fumbled and misunderstood such a patent proposition of law and has arrogated to Registrar power to decide fate of market committees to be constituted under provisions of Agricultural Produce Markets Act as per Legislatures wish and intent clearly disclosed by provisions of Act - In matter of law and law-making Legislature is supreme and not Government - petition is required to be allowed by quashing voters list and it is directed that respondents shall immediately arrange to prepare a new voters list and have election process executed as early as possible so that all such fortuitous people whose term has long hack expired and whose credentials are lost do not stick to those offices - Rule is thus made absolute with no order as to costs - Petition allowed.

N. H. BHATT, J.

( 1 ) THIS old writ petition though filed for final hearing earlier along with the Letters Patent Appeal No. 203 of 1980 unfortunately could not be taken up earlier though the said appeal was disposed of long ago. The petition has been filed by one citizen claiming to be a voter on the voters list to elect agriculturists prepared for the purpose of constitution of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee Valsad. He was holding at the relevant time the Office of the Vice-President-President of the said Committee. He filed the petition at the time when the elections for the constitution of the New Committee under sec. 11 of the Gujarat Agricultural Produce Market Act 1963 hereinafter to as the Act for brevitys sake were in the offing. Sec. 11 (1) of the said Act provides that the market committee consists of various types of members listed in clauses (i) to (v) but in this petition we are concerned with eight agriculturists to be elected by members of the Managing Committees of co-operative societies (other than co-operative marketing societies) dispensing agricultural credit in the market area. The petitioner stated that as per the election programme the nomination forms were to be filed on 2-1-81 the scrutiny was fixed to be on 4-1-81 and the election was to take place on 15-1-81. The petitioners grievance was that the list of agriculturists constituency was vitiated in so far as the milk producing society so called situated in the market area and the fisheries society were wrongly taken to be the societies entitled to give the names of their members of Managing Committees. The petitioners grievance was that in the tentative voters lists the names of the members of the Milk Purchasing Co-operative societies and Fisheries Co-operative societies were shown and that despite his objection to the inclusion of those names by his application dated 14-11-80. Annexure-C the said names continued in the final voters list. According to him these intruders names were wrongly inserted and therefore there was going to be no proper election of eight agriculturists from the agricultural constituency so-called. He had therefore filed this petition well in time before the election that is on 24-12-80 and had sought for a writ of mandamus restraining the Respondent No. 1 the Director under the Act and the Authorised Officer for the purposes of the election from holding the elections on the basis of the voters list at Annexure-D and also prayed for quashing the said list at Annexure-D.

( 2 ) MUCH water as observed by me at the outset has flown beneath the bridge and as per the judgment of the Division Bench of this High Court in the Letters patent appeal no. 55 of 1980 decided on 12-10-82 by M. P. Thakkar C. J. as he then was and R. C. Mankad J. sa new voters list will have to be prepared taking into account the changes which might have taken place since then. However in order to see that such unpleasant history does not get repeated at the time of preparation. of the new voters lists certain positions of law are required to be clarified.

( 3 ) THE first question is whether the Fisheries societies which ostensibly appear to be engaged in producing fish for variety of purposes can be said to be co-operative societies dispensing agricultural credit in the market area. The term agricultural credit is not specifically defined for the purposes of the Act but agricultural produce and an agriculturist are defined and from those definitions we can certainly and inevitably draw an inference what an agricultural credit is. `agricultural Produce means all produce of agriculture horticulture and animal husbandry specified in the Schedule. If any product is a product of agriculture horticulture or animal husbandry but if it is not specified- in the Schedule that is to be ignored for the purposes of the Act. I with the assistance of the learned Advocats went through that Schedule but found that fish are not there though eggs poultry cattle sheep






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