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TMI Blog1953 (11) TMI 26X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ws in his order dated the 4th August 1953: This is a petition under Article 228 of the Constitution of India for withdrawing to this Court Calendar Case No. 256 of 1950 on the file of the Division First Class Magistrate's Court, Kottayam, on the ground that that case involves a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution. The charges against the petitioners are under Sections 14 and 73 of Act V of 1950. Section 14 of the Act makes it an offence to contravene any order notified by Government under Section 3 of the Act relating to production or manufacture of essential articles. Orders dated 21-11-1942 and 1-2-1913 are the notified orders alleged to have been contravened by the accused. The notification dat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Division Peishkar concerned or such other officer authorised by him in the case of transport within the same District; or (2) the Food Grains Controller in the case of transports from one District to another. "R. O. C. No. 2477/42/C. F. S. dated the 1st February 1943. In exercise of the powers conferred by Rule 81 of the Defence of Travancore Rules, the Government of His Highness the Maharaja hereby order that with effect from the 15th February 1943, no owner, manager or other person in charge of a Rice Mill shall engage in the business of hulling of rice in any part of the State. They were in force on the date of the alleged offence, namely 24-4-1950, by virtue of Section 73 of the Travancore-Cochin Public Safety Measures A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t rid of Section 92 of their Constitution, which seems to them to be more trouble than it is worth. It seems certain that in twenty years Indian lawyers will be able to point out that the Australian lawyers do not know what trouble is. Part XIII exhibits the major defect of the Indian Constitution, a reluctance to trust the Legislatures combined with a reluctance to allow the courts to engage in judicious law-making through the interpretation of broad and general provisions.(Some Characteristics of the Indian Constitution). 4. The Articles material for the disposal of this case are Articles 301 and 304: 301. Subject to the other provisions of this Part, trade, commerce and intercourse throughout the territory of India shall be free.&qu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a freedom of trade "among the States" as in Sections 51(1) and 92 of the Commonwealth of Australian Constitution Act but "throughout the territory of India". The question as to whether the operation of Article 304 should be confined as contended by Mr. Shenoi on behalf of the State has been considered and negatived in a recent order by a Division Bench of this Court, - George v. State of Travancore-Cochin AIR, 1954 Trav C 34 (A). There is a full discussion, of all the aspects of the case in that order and we do not think that any useful purpose will be served by our covering the ground afresh. 6. The question as to whether the words "or within the State" mean only inter-State trade passing beyond the frontier ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... th and 'not limited to inter-State dealings'. The underlining (here in ' ') is ours. 8. Point No. 2, The considerations to be borne in mind in deciding whether any portion of Section 3 can be saved or not can be summarised in the words of Crawford (Construction of Statutes, p. 216) as follows: Simply because a statute happens to be unconstitutional, or invalid in part, does not necessarily mean that the part which is not invalid must also fail, not even though the statute be penal. It is only where the valid parts are so clearly dependent upon and so inseparably connected with the invalid parts that they cannot be separated without defeating the object of the Statute, that they too must fall with those parts which are i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e legislature, the court may examine the entire statute, including the invalid as well as the valid portions, and resort to the usual principles of statutory construction. But where it is impossible to determine what part of a statute was intended by the legislature to be operative when certain of its provisions have been held invalid, the whole statute will fall. and applying these considerations we have no doubt that the whole of Section 3 has to go and that no portion of it can be sustained. It follows that we cannot but endorse the conclusion reached in - AIR 1954 Trav C 34 (A): The result is that Section 3 of the Public Safety Measures Act 1950 (Act V of 1950) has to be declared illegal and void. and discharge accused Nos. 1 t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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