 the national agricultural produce price fixation tribunal bill, 2018 byshri rajeev satav, mp—————— arrangement of clauses—————— clauses chapter i preliminary1 short title, extent and commencement 2 definitionschapter iiestablishment of the tribunal3 establishment of national agricultural produce price fixation tribunal 4 composition of tribunal and benches thereof 5 qualifications for appointment and selection as chairperson, vice-chairperson, judicialmember6 vice-chairperson to act as chairperson or to discharge his functions in certaincircumstances7 term of office 8 resignation and removal 9 salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of service of chairperson,vice-chairperson and other members10 provision as to the holding of offices by chairperson on ceasing to be suchchairperson11 financial and administrative powers of the chairperson 12 staff of the tribunalchapter iiijurisdiction, powers and authority of proceedings of tribunal13 jurisdiction, powers and proceedings of the national agriculture price confirmationtribunal14 tribunal to settle disputes 15 relief, compensation and restitution 16 liability to pay relief or compensation in certain cases 17 petition to tribunal 18 procedure and powers of tribunal 19 tribunal to apply certain principles 20 decision to be taken by majority 21 appeal 22 imposition of cost 23 right of petitioner to take assistance of legal practitioner 24 execution of orders of a tribunal(ii)clauses chapter iv miscellaneous25 bar on jurisdiction of civil court 26 members and staff of tribunal to be public servants 27 protection of action taken in good faith 28 application of other laws not barred 29 act to have overriding effect 30 power to remove difficulties 31 power to make rules bill no  96 of  2018 the national agricultural produce price fixation tribunal bill, 2018 by shri rajeev satav, mp a billto provide for establishment of a national agricultural produce price fixation tribunal in pursuance of article 323b(2) (g) of the constitution to uphold the livelihood rights of farmers, agriculturists and the general public, in matters relating to price fixation of agricultural produce considered as essential commodities and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminary(3) it shall come into force on such date, as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—5(a) "agriculture" with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes floriculture, horticulture, sericulture, the raising of crops, grass or garden produce, dairy farming, poultry farming, stock breeding, cutting of wood or grass, gathering of fruit, raising of man-made forest or rearing of seedlings or plants;(b) "appointed day" in relation to national tribunal means the date with effect from which it is established, by notification under section 3;10(c) "chairperson" means the chairperson of the principle bench of the tribunal; (d) "commission" means the commission for agricultural costs and prices(cacp) constituted under the union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare;(e) "crop" includes crop of wheat, rice, jawar, bajra, toor, ground nut, cotton, sugarcane or any other crop notified in the official gazette, from time to time;15(f) "essential commodities" means the agricultural produce as notified under the essential commodities act, 1955;10 of 1955(g) "expert member" means a member of the tribunal who, is appointed as such, and holds qualifications specified in sub-section (4) of section 5, and, is not a judicial member;20(h) "fair price" means the fair and reasonable price of agricultural produce (food crops and food stuffs, edible oilseeds and other crops) as recommended by the commission to the government of india and verified by the tribunal and agreeable to both the parties involved in the transaction;(i) "farmer" means any person who—25(i) cultivates crops by cultivating the land himself; or (ii) cultivates crops by directly supervising the cultivation of land throughany other person; or30(iii) conserves and preserves, severally or jointly, with any person or traditional varieties or adds value to such traditional varieties through selection and identification of their useful properties; (j) "goods" include such items which have been declared as essential goods in the official gazette for the purpose of article 323(b) (g) of the constitution of  india and control of the prices of such goods;3510 of 1994(k) "human rights" shall have the same meaning as defined under clause (d) of section 2 of the protection of human rights act, 1993;(l) "judicial member" means a member of the tribunal appointed as such under this act, and includes the chairperson or a vice-chairperson who possesses any of the qualifications specified under section 5;40(m) "minimum support price" means the minimum support price of agriculture produce as declared by the union government;(n) "notification" means a notification published in the official gazette; (o) "order" means an order notified in the official gazette; (p) "petition" means an application made under sections 14, 15 and 16; (q) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;5(r) "victim" means any person who has suffered any loss or injury due to the act or omission for which the government machinery deciding the prize for agricultural produce is responsible and expression includes his guardian or legal heir and any such group of persons or family members facing financial loss and issues related to livelihood;(s) "substantial question related to agricultural produce price fixation" include issues relating to direct violation of farmers rights by denial of fair market price for their agricultural produce and the financial losses due to lower price prescribed to agricultural produce; and10(t) "tribunal" means the national agricultural produce price fixation tribunalestablished under section 3 chapter ii establishment of the tribunal153 (1) the central government shall, by notification, establish, with effect from such date as may be specified therein, a tribunal to be known as the national agricultural produce price fixation tribunal to exercise the jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on such tribunal by or under this actestablishment of national agricultural produce price confirmation tribunal20(2) the central government may, on receipt of a request in this behalf from any state government, establish by notification, a regional bench of the tribunal for that state which shall be established as per states zones to exercise the jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on the tribunal for the state under this act4 (1) the tribunal shall consist of a chairperson, such number of vice-chairperson as judicial member and a minimum of two expert members to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribedcomposition of tribunal and benches thereof25(2) subject to the other provisions of this act, a bench shall consist of one judicial member and one expert member to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed(3) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) the chairperson may,—30(a) in addition to discharge the functions of the judicial member or the memberof the regional bench of the tribunal to which he is appointed, discharge thefunctions of the members of the tribunal, the member of any other bench, as the case may be;35(b) transfer the vice-chairperson or other member from one bench to anotherbench;(c) authorize the vice-chairperson or the judicial member or the member appointed to one bench, to discharge additionally the functions of the vice-chairperson or, as the case may be, the judicial member or the member of another bench as the case may be; and40(d) for the purpose of securing that any case or cases which having regard tothe nature of the question involved, requires, in his opinion or under the rules made by central government in this behalf, to be decided by bench composed of more than two members, issue such general or special orders, as he may deem fit;(4) subject to the provisions of this act, the benches of the tribunal shall ordinarily sit at new delhi which shall be known as principal bench and at other zonal benches as central government may, by notification, specify5 (1) a person shall not be qualified for appointment and selection as chairperson unless he —(a) is, or has been a retired judge of supreme court or retired chief justice of any high court; and5(b) has at least two years held the office of vice-chairpersonqualifications for appointment and selection as chairperson, vice- chairperson, judicial member(2) a person shall not be qualified for appointment as the vice-chairperson unless he—(a) is, or has been, or is qualified to be a judge of high court; and (b) has for a period not less than three years, held office as judicial member10(3) a person shall not be qualified for appointment and selection as judicial member unless he—(a) is, or has been, or is qualified to be, a judge of high court; or (b) is retired as principle district judge or is qualified to be appointed as principal district judge15(4) a person shall not be qualified for appointment as an expert member unless he—(a) is having minimum qualification of post graduation in agriculture, economics and relevant field, or20(b) has experience of at least five years work in the field of agriculture, economics or any other related fields like agronomy, animal science and dairy science, agricultural botany, soil science and agriculture chemistry, agricultural economics, agriculture entomology, agricultural extension, bio-chemistry, food science and technology, horticulture, inter faculty iwm, statistics, plant pathology and agriculture micro biology, bio technology25(5) the chairperson, vice- chairperson, judicial member and expert member of the tribunal and its benches shall be appointed by the president of india under his warrant and seal30(6) no appointment of a person possessing qualifications specified in this section as the chairperson, a vice-chairperson or a member shall be made without consultation with the selection committee headed by the chief justice of india and comprising of two sitting judges of the supreme court or high court, one representative of the indian council for agricultural research and one vice-chancellor of any agricultural university to be nominated by the central government356 (1) in the event of occurrence of any vacancy in the office of the chairperson by reason of his death, resignation or otherwise, such central vice-chairperson as the government may, by notification, authorize in this behalf, shall act as the chairperson until the date on which a new chairperson, appointed in accordance with the provisions of this act to fill such a vacancy enters upon his officevice- chairperson to act as chairperson or to discharge his functions in certain circumstances40(2) when the chairperson is unable to discharge his functions owing to absence,illness or any other cause, such vice-chairperson as the central government may, by notification, authorize in this behalf, shall discharge the functions of the chairperson until the date on which the chairperson resumes his dutiesterm of office7 the chairperson, vice-chairperson or other member shall hold office as such for aterm of three years from the date on which he enters upon his office, but shall be eligible for re-appointment for another term of three years45resignation and removal8 (1) the chairperson, vice-chairperson, judicial member and expert member bynotice in writing under his hand addressed to the president, resign from his office:5provided that the chairperson, vice-chairperson, judicial member and expert member shall, unless he is permitted by the president to relinquish his office sooner, continue to hold office until the expiry of three months from the date of receipt of such a notice or until a person duly appointed in his place enters upon his office or until the expiry of his term of office, whichever is earliest10(2) the chairperson, vice-chairperson, judicial member and expert member shall notbe removed from their office except by an order made by the president on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity after an inquiry made by a judge of the supreme court in which such chairperson, vice- chairperson, judicial member and expert member had been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges9 the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditions ofservice (including pension, gratuity and other retirement benefits) of the chairperson, vice-chairperson and members shall be such as may be prescribedsalaries andallowancesand other terms and conditions of service of chairperson, vice- chairperson and other members1510 on ceasing to hold office the chairperson of the tribunal shall be ineligible forfurther employment either under the government of india or under government of a state for a period of three yearsprovision as to the holding of offices by chairperson on ceasing to be such chairperson11 the chairperson shall exercise such financial and administrative powers over the benches as may be vested in him under the rules made by the central government:financial and administrative powers of the chairperson20provided that the chairperson may delegate such of his financial andadministrative powers as he may deem fit to the vice-chairperson or any officer of the tribunal, subject to the condition that the vice-chairperson or such officer shall, while exercising such delegated powers, continue to act under the direction, control and supervision of the chairperson25staff of the tribunal12 (1) the central government shall appoint such number of the officers and otheremployees required to assist a tribunal in the discharge of its functions as it may think fit(2) the officers and other employees of a tribunal shall discharge their functionsunder the general superintendence of the chairperson30(3) the salaries and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of serviceof the officers and employees of the tribunal shall be such as may be prescribed chapter iii jurisdiction, powers and authority of proceedings of tribunal3513 (1) save as otherwise expressly provided in this act, the tribunal shall exercise on and from the appointed date, all the jurisdiction, powers and authority exercisable immediately before that day by all courts (except the supreme court) in relation to—(a) fixation of price of agricultural produce declared by the central governmentin pursuance of the recommendations made by the commission;jurisdiction, powers and proceedings of the national agriculture price confirmation tribunal(b) the confirmation of principles and methodologies used by the commissionfor determination of minimum support price;(c) the factors which are to be considered for determination of cost of agricultureproduce include bank interest and wages of the labour;(d) the factors which determine the quantum of subsidy to be given by thecentral government to reduce the cost of agriculture produce;5(e) the factors relating to dearness allowance, profit, escalation of the prices inglobal market and all other factors incidental thereto;(f) the factors safeguarding the interest of the agriculturists and consumer; and (g) the factors affecting the agricultural produce and its price including lowstandard and defective chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers resulting environmental impact on the agricultural produce10(2) the tribunal shall have the powers to direct the central government to control theimport and export of the agriculture produce, by considering the prices of the particular agricultural produce fixed or determined by the tribunal(3) the tribunal shall have power to direct the central government to reimburse theagriculturist for the short fall between the price declared by the tribunal15tribunal to settle disputes2014 (1) the tribunal shall have the jurisdiction over all civil cases where substantialquestion related to agricultural produce price fixation is involved (including enforcement of any legal right of farmer related to livelihood and fixation of price of agricultural produce) or for instance where there is direct violation of farmers in getting good market price for their agricultural produce and the lower price prescribed to agricultural produce affect the farmer communities and the gravity of such damage to margin of profit is broadly measurable and which can be shown comparatively in reference to previous years price fixation as well as by producing actual information related to sell of such agricultural produce in price higher than prescribed by the commission or the concern government authority25(2) the tribunal shall hear the disputes arising from questions referred to insub-section (1) above and settle some dispute arising and pass order thereon(3) no application for adjudication of dispute under this section shall be entertained by the tribunal unless it is made within a period of six months from the date on which the cause of action for such dispute first arose:30provided that the tribunal may, if it is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the application within the said period, allow it to be filed within a further period not exceeding sixty days15 (1) the tribunal may, by an order, provide,—35(a) relief and compensation to the victims of irrational, arbitrary, unfair fixation ofprice for agricultural produce and other damages arising as mention in section 13;relief, compensation and restitution(b) for restitution of agricultural land damaged,(2) the relief and compensation and restitution of farm land, agricultural produce and other economical damage referred to in clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (1) shall be in addition to the relief paid to farmer40(3) no application for grant of any compensation or relief or restitution of agricultural property or loss to livelihood under this section shall be entertained by the tribunal unless it is made within a period of five years from the date on which the cause for such compensation or relief first arose:45provided that the tribunal may, if it is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the application within the said period, allow it to be filed within a further period not exceeding sixty days(4) the tribunal may, having regard to the damage to public health, agricultural property, divide the compensation or relief payable under separate heads so as to provide compensation or relief to the claimant victims, as it may deem fit5(5) every claimant of the compensation or relief under this act shall intimate to thetribunal about the application filed to, or, as the case may be, compensation or relief received from, any other court or authority10liability to pay relief or compensation in certain cases16 where loss to agricultural produce of any farmer, or damage to crops or damage to any agricultural property has resulted from an irrational, arbitrary and unfair process of fixation of price for agricultural produce, the government or its concerned authorities shall be responsible to pay such relief or compensation for any such damage to crops or damage to any agricultural propertypetition to tribunal1517 (1) each petition under sections 14, 15 and 16 shall be made to the tribunal in suchform, contain such particulars, and, be accompanied by such documents and such fees as may be prescribed by central government after consultation with the chairperson of the tribunal(2) without prejudice to the provisions mentioned in this law, a petition for grant of relief or compensation or settlement of dispute may be made to the tribunal by—(a) farmer, who has sustained economic damage to agricultural produce and livelihood;20(b) any farmer or registered organisation of an agriculturist at state or nationallevel or the legal representatives of farmer, as the case may be, may file petition to the national agricultural produce price confirmation tribunal for cost verification of minimum support price declared by the central government25(3) the petition filed before the tribunal under this act shall be dealt as expeditiouslyas possible and endeavour shall be made by it to dispose of the petition, or, as the case may be, finally within six months from the date of filing of the petition, or as the case may be, after providing the parties concerned an opportunity to be heard18 (1) the tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down by the code of civil procedure, 1908 but shall be guided by the principles of natural justiceprocedure and powers of tribunal5 of 190830(2) subject to the provisions of this act, the tribunal shall have power to regulate itsown procedure1 of 1872(3) the tribunal shall also not be bound by the rules of evidence contained in theindian evidence act, 18725 of 190835(4) the tribunal shall have, for the purposes of discharging its functions under thisact, the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the code of civil procedure, 1908, while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:—(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining himon oath;(b) requiring the discovery and production of documents; (c) receiving evidence on affidavits;401 of 1872(d) subject to the provisions of sections 123 and 124 of the indian evidenceact, 1872, requisitioning any public record or document or copy of such record or document from any office;(e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents;45(f) reviewing its decision; (g) dismissing a petition for default or deciding it ex parte;(h) setting aside any order of dismissal of any petition for default or any orderpassed by it ex parte;(i) pass an interim order (including granting an injunction or stay) after providingthe parties concerned an opportunity to be heard, on any petition filed under this act;5(j) pass an order requiring any person to cease and desist from committing orcausing any violation to any farmer;(k) any other matter which may be prescribed1045 of 18602 of 1974(5) all proceedings before the tribunal shall be deemed to be the judicial proceedings within the meaning of sections 193, 219 and 228 for the purposes of section 196 of the indian penal code, 1860 and the tribunal shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of section 195 and chapter xxvi of the code of criminal procedure, 197319 the tribunal shall, while passing any order or decision or award, apply the principles of sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principletribunal to apply certain principles20 the decision of tribunal shall be taken by majority of members and shall bebinding:15decision to be taken by majorityprovided that if there is a difference of opinion amongst the members hearingany petition and the opinion is equally divided, the chairperson shall hear (if he has not heard earlier) such petition and decide:20provided further that where the chairperson himself has heard such petition orappeal along with other members of the tribunal, and if there is a difference of opinion among the members in such cases and the opinion is equally divided, he shall refer the matter to other members of the tribunal who shall hear such petition and decideappeal255 of 190821 any person aggrieved by any decision or order of the tribunal, may, file an appealto the supreme court, within ninety days from the date of communication of the award, decision or order of the tribunal, to him, on any one or more of the grounds specified in section 100 of the code of civil procedure, 1908:30provided that the supreme court may entertain any appeal after the expiry ofninety days, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from preferring the appealimposition of cost22 (1) while disposing of a petition under this act, the tribunal shall have power tomake such order as to costs, as it may consider necessary35(2) where the tribunal holds that a claim is not maintainable, or is false or vexatious,and such claim is disallowed, in whole or in part, the tribunal may, if it so thinks fit, after recording its reasons for holding such claim to be false or vexatious, make an order to award costs, including lost benefits due to any interim injunction23 a person making an application to a tribunal under this act may either appear inperson or take the assistance of a legal practitioner of his choice to present his case before the tribunalright of petitioner to take assistance of legal practitioner4024 subject to the provisions of this act and the rules, the order of a tribunal finallydisposing of petition shall be agitated in execution before the tribunalexecution of orders of a tribunal chapter  iv miscellaneous25 no civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respectof any matter which may be adjudicated by agriculture price tribunal under this act and no45bar on jurisdiction of civil courtorder shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this act526 the chairperson, vice-chairperson, the judicial and expert members, officers andother employees of the tribunal shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the indian penal code, 1860members and staff of tribunal to be public servants15 of 1860protection of action taken in good faith1027 no suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the central orstate government or against the chairperson, vice-chairperson or other person authorized by such chairperson, vice-chairperson or other member for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this actor any rule or order made there underapplication of other laws not barred10 of 1949 11 of 1948 10 of 195528 the provisions of this act or rules made thereunder shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of the banking regulation act, 1949, the minimum wages act, 1948, the essential commodities act, 1955, the agricultural procedure marketing (development and regulation) act of the state government concerned15act to have overriding effect29 the provisions of this act, shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistentcontained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this actpower to remove difficulties2030 (1) if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this act as may appear to be necessary for removing the difficulty:provided that no order shall be made under this section after the expiry of a period of two years from the commencement of this act(2) every order made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament25power to make rules31 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the provisions of this act(2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—30(a) the transfer of cases by the chairperson from one place of sitting (includingthe ordinary place of sitting) to other place of sitting;(b) the salaries and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions ofservice (including pension, gratuity and other retirement benefits) of the chairperson, judicial member and expert member of the tribunal under section 9;35(c) the recruitment of officers and other employees of the tribunal undersub-section (2) of section 12; and the salaries and allowances and other conditions ofservice of the officers and other employees of the tribunal under sub-section (3) of that section;(d) the financial and administrative powers to be exercised by the chairperson ofthe tribunal under section 11;40(e) the format for petition to be filed before the tribunal under sections 14, 15and fees(3) every rule made under this act by the central government shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects  and reasonsthe national farmers commission under the chairmanship of prof ms swaminathan in its report had pointed out that "success in agricultural progress should be measured by the growth of farmers' incomes and not just by production figures" as echoed by the commission, for sustainability of agriculture, farmers' income and livelihood must be the focal point of policy framing in agriculture the minimum support price (msp) of the crops does not cover the cost of production of the agriculture produce to the full extent and, therefore, it does not do full justice to the farmers even though the prices declared by the cacp are not remunerative, they are not up to the cost of cultivationthe need is to establish a tribunal under constitutional provision of article 323b (2) (g)for adjudicating disputes relating to agricultural produce our country is an agrarian economy and a sizeable population is involved in the agriculture sector there has been an alarming increase in farmer suicides due to factors such as debt, loss of productivity and denial of actual cost the creation of such a tribunal will be a right step in providing an autonomous body which shall adjudicate disputes and address the issues faced by the farmers on issues relating to appropriate price for their producethe tribunal also required to be mandated to uphold the fundamental right of livelihood for farmers, who form the backbone of the country the absence of any dedicated and impartial tribunal to ascertain fair price and provide relief in the form of compensation or restitution to farmers on account of denial of the mandated cost, resulted in causing financial losses to the farmers the need is further to study and scrutinize the factors that which would safeguard farmers' interestthe bill, therefore, seeks to provide for establishment of a national agricultural produce price fixation tribunal in pursuance of article 323b(2) (g) of the constitution to which uphold the livelihood rights of farmers, agriculturist and the general public, in matters relating to price fixation of agricultural produce considered as essential commodities and for matters connected therewithhence this billnew delhi;rajeev satavfebruary 22, 2018 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of the national agricultural produce price fixation tribunal clause 9 provides for the salary and allowances of the chairperson and members of the tribunal clause 12 provides for appointment of officers and staff of the tribunal the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of rupees forty crore per annum would be involveda non-recurring expenditure of about rupees ten crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 31 of the bill empowers the central government to make, by notification in the official gazette, rules for carrying out the provisions of the proposed legislation sub-clause (2) enumerates the matters in respect of which such rules may be made these matters, inter alia, include matters relating to—(a) the transfer of cases by the chairperson from one place of sitting (including the ordinary place of sitting) to other place of sitting;(b) the salaries and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions ofservice (including pension, gratuity and other retirement benefits) of, the chairperson, judicial member and expert member of the tribunal under section 9;(c) the recruitment of officers and other employees of the tribunal undersub-section (2) of section 12; and the salaries and allowances and other conditions of service of the officers and other employees of the tribunal under sub-section (3) of that section;(d) the financial and administrative powers to be exercised by the chairperson ofthe tribunal under section 11;(e) the format for petition to be filed before the tribunal under sections 14, 15 andfeesas the matters in respect of which rules may be made are matter of procedure and administrative detail and it is not practicable to provide for them in the bill itself, the delegation of legislative powers, therefore, is of a normal character———— a billto provide for establishment of a national agricultural produce price fixation tribunal in pursuance of article 323b(2) (g) of the constitution to uphold the livelihood rights of farmers, agriculturists and the general public, in matters relating to price fixation of agricultural produce considered as essential commodities and for matters connected therewith————(shri rajeev satav, mp)mgipmrnd—4485ls(s3)—16032018