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TMI Blog1975 (8) TMI 127X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y of ginger in January and February, 1969 without obtaining a licence as required by the Act. The learned Magistrate accepted the factum of purchase but he acquitted the appellant on the ground that the relevant notification in regard to the inclusion of ginger was not shown to have been promulgated and published as required by the Act. The case was tried by the learned Magistrate by the application of procedure appointed for summary trials. That circumstance together with the token sentence of fine imposed by the High Court gives to the case a petty appearance. But occasionally, matters apparently petty seem on closer thought to contain points of importance though, regretfully, such importance comes to be realized by stages as the matter travels slowly from one court to another. As before the Magistrate so in the High Court, the matter failed to receive due attention: a fundamental premise on which the judgment of the High Court is based contains an assumption contrary to the record. Evidently, the attention of the High Court was not drawn either to the error of that assumption or to some of the more important aspects of the case which the parties have now perceived. It is necess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... area specified in the said notification or any portion thereof to be a market area for the purposes of this Act in respect of all or any of the kinds of agricultural produce specified in the said notification. A notification under this section shall also be published in Gujarati in a newspaper having circulation in the said area and in such other manner, as may be prescribed. 6. (5) After declaring in the manner specified in section 5 his intention of so doing, and following the procedure there in, the Director may, at any time by notification in the Official Gazette. exclude any area from a market area specified in a notification issued under sub-section (1), or include any area therein and exclude from or add to the kinds of agricultural produce so specified any kind of agricultural produce." By section 8, no person can operate in the market area or any part thereof except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted under the Act. Section 36 of the Act provides, to the extent material, that whoever without holding a licence uses any place in a market area for the purchase or sale of any agricultural produce and thereby contravenes section 8 shall on con ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6 only. the legislature would have said so. But the little complexity that there is in this matter arises out of a known phenomenon, judicially noticed but otherwise disputed, that sometimes the legislature does not say what it means. That has given rise to a series of technical rules of interpretation devised or designed to unravel the mind of the law-makers. If the words used in a statute are ambiguous, it is said, consider the object of the statute, have regard to the purpose for which the particular provision is put on the statute-book and then decide what interpretation best carries out that object and purpose. The words of the concluding portion of section 6(1) are plain and unambiguous rendering superfluous the aid of artificial guide-lines to interpretation. But the matter does not rest there. The appellant has made an alternative argument that the requirement regarding the publication in Gujarati in a newspaper is directory and not mandatory, despite the use of the word "shall". That word, according to the appellant, really means "may". Maxwell, Crawford and Craies abound in illustrations where the words "shall" and "may" are trea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sary than to expound those words in their natural and ordinary sense, the words themselves in such case best declaring the intention of the legislature(1). Section 6(1) of the Act provides in terms, plain and precise that a notification issued under the section "shall also" be published in Gujarati in a newspaper. The word 'also' provides an important clue to the intention of the legislature because having provided that the notification shall be published in the Official Gazette, section 6(1) goes on to say that the notification shall also be published in Gujarati in a newspaper. The additional mode of publication prescribed by law must, in the absence of anything to the contrary appearing from the context of the provision or its object, be assumed to have a meaning and a purpose. In Khub Chand v. State of Rajasthan, it was observed that "the term 'shall' in its ordinary significance is mandatory and the court shall ordinarily give that interpretation to that term unless such an interpretation leads to some absurd or inconvenient consequence or be at variance with the intent of the Legislature, to be collected from other parts of the Act. The construction of the said ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wer is not absolute because by the terms of section 6(1) it can only be exercised after considering the objections and suggestions received by the Director within the stipulated period. The notification under section 6(1) is also required to be published in Gujarati in a newspaper. The power conferred by section 5(1) or 6(1) is not exhausted by the issuance of the initial notification covering a particular area or relating to a particular agricultural produce. An area initially included in the market area may later be excluded, a new area may be added and likewise an agricultural produce included in the notification may be excluded or a new variety of agricultural produce may be added. This is a salutary power because experience gained by working the Act may show the necessity for amending the notification issued under section 6(1). This power is conferred by section 6(5). By section 6(5), if the Director intends to add or exclude an area or an agricultural produce, he is to declare his intention of doing so in the manner specified in section 5 and after following the procedure prescribed therein. Thus, an amendment to the section 6(1) notification in regard to matters described t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... A violation of this requirement is likely to affect valuable rights of traders and agriculturists because in the absence of proper and adequate publicity, their right of trade and business shall have been hampered without affording to them an opportunity to offer objections and suggestions, an opportunity which the statute clearly deems so desirable. By section 6(2), once an area is declared to be a market area, no place in the said area can be used for the purchase or sale of any agricultural produce specified in the notification except in accordance with the provisions of the Act. By section 8 no person can operate in the market area or any part thereof except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted under the Act. A violation of these provisions attracts penal consequences under section 36 of the Act. It is therefore vital from the point of view of the citizens' right to carry on trade or business, no less than for the consideration that violation of the Act leads to penal consequences, that the notification must receive due publicity. As the statute itself has devised an adequate means of such publicity, there is no reason to permit a departure from that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch less in Gujarati, Accordingly, the inclusion of new varieties of agricultural produce in that notification lacks legal validity and no prosecution can be founded upon its breach. Rule 3 of the Gujarat Agricultural Produce Markets Rules, 1965 relates specifically and exclusively to notifications "issued under subsection (1) of section 5 or under sub-section (1) of section 6." As we are concerned with a notification issued under sub-section (5) of section 6, we need not go into the question whether Rule 3 is complied with. We may however indicate that the authorities concerned must comply with Rule 3 also in regard to notifications issued under sections 5(1) and 6(1) of the Act. After all, the rule is calculated to cause no inconvenience to the authorities charged with the duty of administering the Act. It only requires publication by affixing a copy of the notification at some conspicuous place in the office of each of the local authorities functioning in the area specified in the notification. The prosecution was conducted before the learned Magistrate in an indifferent manner. That is not surprising because the beneficent purpose of summary trials is almost always d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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