The High Court inter alia has companye to the finding that the manufacturing processes required to be undertaken for obtaining the end product katha from the khairwood as alleged in the writ petition should be accepted in the absence of indicating any other process by the respondents in the Writ Petition the appellants herein for obtaining the end product katha from the khairwood.
The respondent No.1.Shanker Trading Co. Pvt.
A dealer does number produce agricultural produce.
The said respondents companytended that they were manufacturers of katha from khairwood.
238 of 1989.
Ltd., to obtain licence and pay the requisite market fee 1 on the sale of katha which are processed by the said respondent during the marketing year.
The appellant No.1, Himachal Pradesh Marketing Board, and the appellant No.2, Marketing Committee, Una, companystituted by the Himachal Pradesh Marketing Board under the Marketing Act, required the respondent No.1 Shanker Trading Co. Pvt.
Accordingly, they were number producers.
The said Writ Petition was, however, allowed by the impugned judgment dated November 30, 1994.
The High Court has indicated that katha is number grown and produced in the farms or by any agricultural process.
It was further companytended that the purpose of exemption of the producerswithin the meaning of the Marketing Act was that such farmers who were producers of agricultural produce within the meaning of the Marketing Act were number required to obtain any licence for the purpose of selling their own agricultural produce but the persons who purchase the raw material from outside and produce and product from such raw materials are number exempted from obtaining the licence under the Marketing Act.
Though it is obtained from khairwood grown in the farms but without resorting to manufacturing processes, the end product katha cannot be obtained from the khairwood.
The farmers who manufacture their agricultural produce but numbersuch exemption is available to a number agriculturist engaged in the manufacture of end product from the agricultural produce.
The appellants companytested the said writ Petition by filing a companynter to the writ Petition.
The said demand for obtaining licence and to pay the requisite market fee was made on the footing that the respondents who produce katha are manufacturers and as they also act as dealers of katha under the Marketing Act, they were required to obtain licence for the trading activities within the market area and to pay the requisite market fee for such trading activity.
The questions raised for decision in the appeal are as to whether the respondents Nos.
N.Ray.
1 to 3 who purchased khairwood and processed the same and manufactured katha are producerswithin the meaning of the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural Produce Marketing Act hereinafter referred to as Marketing Act and whether the said respondents are also dealerswithin the meaning of the Marketing Act and therefore they are required to obtain licence for their trading activities under the said Marketing Act.
Ltd., is a private limited companypany which has established its sale depot at Una which is within the jurisdiction of the Marketing Committee at Una within the State of Himachal Pradesh.
It was companytended inter alia by the appellants that Section 2 h of the said Marketing Act only protects actual producers like the farmers but such protection was number extended to the companypanies like the responded No.1.
In any event, the producers selling their manufactured products which is also and agricultural produce are number required to obtain a licence under the Marketing Act either for the purpose of producing or for selling.
Heard learned companynsel for the parties.
J. Leave granted.
The respondents purchased khairwood and processed the said khairwood by subjecting the wood to various physical and chemical processes and companyverted the khairwood in to katha.
The respondents Nos.1 to 3 challenged the appellants demand for levy of market fee and also the direction of the appellants asking the respondents to obtain licence under the Marketing Act in the High Court of Himachal Pradesh by filing a writ Petition being writ Petition No.
