The main legal point established in the judgment is that coconut husk, raw and retted, is not a product of the coir industry and does not fall within the legislative competence of Parliament under Entry 33 of List III of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution.

RAGHAVAN, C. J. (Minority view):- I have read the judgment prepared by my learned brother Gopalan Nambiyar, J. and I regret I am not able to agree with his reasoning on the main question in the case.

2. The Central Government has, by notification under Section 2 (a) (xi) of the Essential Commodities Act of 1955, declared coconut husk, raw and retted, as an essential commodity. The said notification was declared to be beyond the powers of the Central Government by a Single Judge, and the correctness of that decision is the question to be decided in the appeal.

3. The Essential Commodities Act was passed under Entry 33 of List III of Schedule VII to the Constitution, which reads:

"33. Trade and commerce in, and the production, supply and distribution of,-

(a) the products of any industry where the control of such industry by the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest, and imported goods of the same kind as such products:

(b) foodstuffs, including edible oil-seeds and oils;

(c) cattle fodder, including oil cakes and other concentrates;

(d) raw cotton, whether ginned or unginned and cotton seed; and

(e) raw jute."

And Section 2 (a) (xi) of the Essential Commodities Act says that "any other class of commodity which the Central Government may, by notified order, declare to be an essential commodity for the purposes of this Act being a commodity with respect to which Parliament has power to make laws by virtue of Entry 33 in List III in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution" is an essential commodity. The short point for consideration is whether coconut husk, raw and retted, is a commodity with respect to which Parliament has power to make laws by virtue of Entry 33 of List III of the Seventh Schedule; in other words, does coconut husk fall within the legislative competence of Parliament under Entry 33 of List III.

4. Under Entry 52 of List I of the Seventh Schedule, the Union Parliament has power to legislate on "Industries, the control of which by the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest." The Union Parliament declared that the coir industry was an industry, the control of which by the Union was expedient in the public interest, and the Coir Industry Act of 1953 was passed. In this Act, under Section 3 (c), 'coir' or 'coir fibre' means the fibre extracted from the husk of the coconut; under clause (d) of the section. 'Coir products' means mats and mattings, rugs and carpets, ropes and other articles manufactured wholly or partly from coir or coir yarn; under clause (e), 'coir yarn' means yarn obtained by the spinning of coir, and under clause (h), 'husks' means coconut husks, both raw and retted.

5. The argument of the Government Pleader is that coconut husk, raw and retted, will come within the ambit of the legislation contained in the Coir Industry Act and the commodity (husk) should consequently fall within the ambit of legislation under Entry 33 in List III in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution and also under Section 2 (a) (xi) of the Essential Commodities Act. In the ultimate analysis, the question will boil down to whether coconut husk, raw and retted, is a product of the coir industry.

6. Now I shall explain the position. Under Entry 52 of List I, the legislative competence of the Union Parliament is in respect of industries, the control of which is declared by Parliament to be expedient in the public interest. But, when we come to Entry 33 of List III, the legislative competence is confined to trade and commerce in the products of any industry and the production, supply and distribution of the products of any industry. The stress is evidently on the "products of any industry." In the case before us, there is no question of trade and commerce in a product of the coir industry : there is also no question of supply and distribution of any product of the coir industry. The only contention is that the Essential Commodities Act covers "the prod