Judgment

O. CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. :- The appellants, who are traders engaged in the purchase and sale of agricultural produce, appear to be a determined lot. For over a decade, they or those similarly placed have been litigating and impeding the levy and collection of market fee by the Market Committees constituted under the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act. Some times they have been successful, sometimes they have not. One of the occasions when they appeared to be successful was when this Court in Kewal Kirshnan Puri. v. State of Punjab, AIR 1980 SC 1008 declared that the enhancement of the fee from 2 to 3 was illegal. The Court while striking down the enhancement of the fee laid down no new principle but made certain general observations which, we regret to say, have been so misunderstood and misinterpreted as to lead to some confusion and public mischief. The misunderstanding and confusion have also naturally led to more litigation. Fortunately, in Sreenivasa General Traders v. State of Andhra Pradesh AIR 1983 SC 1246, this Court has removed much of the misunderstanding, cleared many of the cobwebs and retrieved the situation.

2. Before we proceed to consider the question a