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2000 Supreme(Guj) 700

Gujarat High Court
Judgename :M.R.CALLA
SATISH MAGANLAL VORA - Appellant
Versus
UNION OF INDIA - Respondent
S.C.A.9076 of 2000
Decided On : 09/01/2000

Advocates Appeared: B.D.KARIA, D.S.CHANDANANI

Headnote:Special Civil Application No. 5981 of 1999 and SCA No. 1365 of 2000, with Misc. C.A. No. 1175 of 2000, and C.A. No. 1926 of 2000, decided on 20th April/1st September, 2000. - Decided on 20th April/1st September, 2000

       Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (Central Act 10 of 1955) - Sec. 3 - Object of control order to regulate the product by means of licence - Gujarat Essential Articles (Licensing, Control and Stock Declaration) Order, 1991 - Petroleum Product Order, 1980 - Issue of order by Government in matter - Motor spirit and H.S. Diesel (Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prevention of Malpractice) Order, 1998 - Goods seized by D.S.O. was Patrex - Order of D.S.O. confirmed by Collector - Appeal to State Government - Release of goods - Goods released on 100% Bank Guarantee - Challenge order of confiscation and demand of Bank Guarantee - Central Government, dictated user and restriction imposed - Hence, issue of order illegal - Held, the order is for regulation of product which by means of licence and control order is intra vires of Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

       What is sought to be provided for is the regulation of the product and for that purpose, such orders can certainly be issued by the Government so as to take care of the possible mischief with regard to the essential commodities and once a commodity is covered under the Essential Commodities Act, for the purpose of regulating, maintenance and supply of such product, such orders can certainly be made. May be that the Essential Commodities Act was enacted to deal more effectively with persons indulging in anti-social activities like hoarding and black-marketing and the evil of vicious inflationary prices, but no exception can be taken if a provision has been made by issuing an order under Sec. 3 of the Essential Commodities Act against the possible mischiefs with the use of any item, sale and use of which is regulated on the basis of a licence.

       [Para 5]

       No illegality or invalidity is found in the Orders dated 27the June, 1999, Exh. C in Misc. Civil Appln. No. 1175/2000 and 30th June, 1999 (Exh. K annexed with Spl. C.A. No. 5981/1999) which has been passed by the competent authority in accordance with the relevant provisions and consequently, there is no question of any restraint direction against the respondents or for the return of the goods which have been seized. In Special Civil Application No. 1365 of 2000 also, there is a challenge to the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prevention of Malpractices) Order, 1998 that it is ultra vires of the provision of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. For the reasons given hereinabove, this challenge has failed.

       [Para 6]

M. R. CALLA, J.

( 1 ) ). THE petitioner herein claims to be a qualified Chemical engineer and it is his case that by mixing Hydrocarbon liquid, like Naphtha, methyl Alcohol and additives (trade secret), he had invented a product having brand name or trade name as "patrex" way back in the year 1991 with the objective of evaluation of Fuel Economy and driveability benefits and that cost of this product was cheaper by Rs. 1. 50. 00 than average market price of Gasoline. According to the petitioner, this product Gasoline Substitute Fuel named "patrex" was subjected to tests by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (P. C. R. A.), New Delhi in January 1992. A copy of the evaluation report as given by the P. C. R. A. , has been annexed with the petition as Exh. A at page 21. This report at item No. 4 shows that the test was set up by way of Laboratory trial on Maruti 800 C. C. Car on Chassis dynamometer and also the Field Trial on Maruti 800 C. C. Car. The results at item No. 6 show that this product, "patrex" gives an average of 17. 47 km. per Itr. as against the average of Gasoline at 19. 08 km. per Itr. indicating a drop of 8. 44% in fuel efficiency. During the field trial of this product, "patrex", it has been observed that there was acute problem of vapour locking, hot startability and idle performance was extremely poor, irregular acceleration and that the product gave high Residue on Evaporation (R. 6. E. Value-6) and against the requirement of 4 Max. as per IS : 2796 and it also gave high value of potential gums and have mixture of lighter components (92%) of the product distilled between 46-70 degree C. It is also the case of the petitioner that this product, "patrex" was also subjected to test by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (B. P. C. L.), and a copy of the test certificate has been enclosed with the petition as Exh. B at page 22. This test certificate at Exh. B dated 13th May 1994 certifies at the bottom that, "product MEETS IS: 2796 SPECIFICATION except in Colour". This test certificate has been signed by the Senior Quality Assurance Manager of B. P. C. L. . The petitioner has also placed on record a copy of me letter dated 28th June, 1994 sent by the B. P. C. L. , to the Editor of the Times of India with reference to a press report which was published in the Times of India dated 24th June, 1994 with a caption, "substitute for Petrol developed". It has been mentioned in this letter that this report gives an impression that as per the certificate issued by the B. P. C. L. , "patrex" could be used as a substitute for Petrol (Motor Spirit ). In this letter, the B. P. C. L. , has admitted the fact that samples of "patrex", as provided by M/s. Patrex Fuels India Ltd. were tested by B. P. C. L. , and the test results forwarded to them, but it could not be construed as a certificate issued by B. P. C. L. , for use of "patrex" as a substitute for Motor Spirit, certification of a new product as a substitute for an existing one like Motor spirit is a very elaborate process involving extensive tests and trials and can be undertaken only by organisations like the Petroleum Conservation Research association or the Indian Institute of Petroleum. In the end, a request has been made to the Editor of the Times of India that, "in the interest of customers using Motor Spirit, please publish this clarification in your esteemed newspaper as prominently as the original Press Report. "

( 2 ) ). The petitioners case is that while his product has withstood the test by p. C. R. A. and B. P. C. L. , including the certificate that this product meets IS : 2796 specification except in colour, the petitioner has his Factory for this product, situated at Plot No. 2111, G. I. D. C. Area, Sarigam, District Valsad and has the necessary registration certificate. Storage licence, N. O. C. , by the Addl. District Magistrate, Valsad under sub-rule (1) of Rule 144 of the Petroleum rules, 1976, N. O. C. , by Pollution Control Board, licence by the S


















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