( 1 ) THESE petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution challenge the Resolution dated 20-1-2007 passed by the Agricultural Produce Market committee, Kalavad (for brevity "a. P. M. C. " or the Market Committee") for granting trader s licences to 293 persons which would have the effect of including them in the voters list for constituency called the traders holding general licences under clause (ii) of sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 11 of the Agricultural Produce Markets act, 1963 (for brevity "the Act" or "the A. P. M. Act" ). The petitioners have mainly contended that the new licences were issued in a surreptitious manner on 20-1-2007 after the Director of Agricultural marketing and Rural Finance, Gujarat State decided on 10-1-2007 to declare the election program for elections to A. P. M. C. , Kalavad and the election program was declared on 18-1-2007. It is contended that the issue of licences was not only contrary to the statutory provisions of the A. P. M. Act and the Rules, but was also done on such a large-scale as to subvert the democratic process by creating artificial majority for the Chairman of the outgoing Committee.

( 2 ) THE facts leading to filing of these petitions, briefly stated, and as averred by the petitioners are as under :-

2. 1 Respondent No. 4 - A. P. M. C. , Kalavad is a market committee constituted under the provisions of the A. P. M. Act. The petitioners are traders holding general licences in the area of the A. P. M. C, Kalavad. No person can do business as a trader in the area of the A. P. M. C. without obtaining a licence under Sec. 27 of the Act read with Rule 56 of the Agricultural Produce Markets rules, 1965 (for brevity "the Rules" ). Different kinds of licences are being issued under the said Rules. The four year term of the A. P. M. C. is going to be over in June, 2007. Out of the 14 elected members in A. P. M. C. Kalavad, 8 elected members are not supporting the Chairman of the A. P. M. C. (respondent No. 5) who continues to retain power with the support of five other elected members and three other nominated members (two nominated by the State Government ). The Deputy Director and District Registrar, Co-operative Societies who is also a member of the A. P. M. C. sent the proposed election program to the Director of Agricultural Marketing and Rural Finance by letter dated 10-1-2007 (Annexure a ). The Deputy Director and District Registrar of Co-operative Societies (respondent No. 3), who is one of the members nominated by the State government with whose support respondent No. 5 is continuing to hold the office of Chairman of the A. P. M. C. , appears to have informed respondent No. 5 about the proposed election program, and therefore, hurriedly and surreptitiously a meeting of the licence sub-committee of the A. P. M. C. came to be convened on 20-1-2007 vide agenda notice dated 13-1-2007. In the meantime, the Director of Agricultural Marketing and Rural Finance had already issued the election program on 17-1-2007 and sent the same to the A. P. M. C. on 18-1-2007 (Annexure B ). Between 13-1-2007 and 20-1-2007, the A. P. M. C. started collecting applications for grant of licences from persons who are not genuine traders and most of whom are related to respondent No. 5 - the outgoing Chairman of the A. P. M. C. At the meeting of the licence sub-committee held on 20-1-2007, Resolution (Annexure C) was passed for granting fresh licences to the applicants in the following categories :-

"a" class General licences 52 new licences "b" class General licences 56 new licences Vegetable Vendors A class general licences 185 new licences

2. 2 The traders licences are issued for one year and the petitioners have given following particulars to show the number of licence holders in the disputed categories in the previous years and the sudden jump in the number of licences given after 10-1-2007.

2003-2004 2004-2005 ? ? ? ? 14-2006 to 10-1-2007 20-1-2007 1. A Class Gen. Licences 284 264 283 172 ? 52 22