1. The Malabar Market Committee, Kozhikode is the appellant in both these appeals; and the common respondent is a hill produce merchant. The questions involved in the cases are also the same.

The view expressed by a learned judge of this Court (Sadasivan J.) in The Secretary, Malabar Market Committee v. M. K. Thavutty, Crl. Appeal No. 294 of 1967 was doubted, and hence, these cases were referred to a Division Bench and ultimately, to a Full Bench. There are three questions to be decided in these cases; and I shall come to them one by one.

2. The respondent applied for licence from 1st January 1965 to 31st December 1966 as contemplated by S.5 of the Madras Commercial Crops Markets Act remitting the requisite fee and complying with the other formalities. He carried on his trade in arecanuts expecting the licence to be issued in due course. Subsequently, he was called upon to produce his account books as a licensee, and he did not even send a reply to the demand. Then he was prosecuted for breach of bye-law 25 (6) framed by the Market Committee, which is made punishable by bye-law 25 (18). The District Magistrate, Tellicherry acquitted the respondent, and the Market Committe