REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO(s). 3630 OF 2007

M/S. KUMAON SEEDS COPRN. & ORS.               Appellant (s)

                VERSUS

KRISHI UTPADAN MANDI SAMITI, KASHIPUR & ORS.  Respondent(s)

WITH  

Civil Appeal NO. 3631 of 2007

O  R  D  E  R

Heard learned counsel for the appearing parties.

These  Appeals  have  been  filed  against  the  impugned  

common judgment of the High Court of Uttarachal (Now, the  

High Court of Uttarakhand) dated 07.07.2005 passed in First  

Appeal No. 1072 of 2001 and First Appeal No. 1073 of 2001.

The appellants claim to be dealing in certified seeds.  

Seeking to impose market fee on those seeds under the Uttar  

Pradesh  Krishi  Utpadan  Mandi  Adhiniyam,  1964,  the  

respondents issued show cause notices to the appellants. The  

appellants filed civil suits challenging the said show cause  

notices  and  the  matter  went  upto  the  High  Court  which  

dismissed the suits by the impugned judgment.

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Civil Appeal NO(s). 3630/2007 & 3631/2007

In our opinion, the High Court should not have gone  

into the merits of the matter because it was only dealing  

with the validity of the show cause notices in question and  

not deciding the matter on merits.  However, it appears that  

certain observations have been made even on the merits of  

the case by the High Court in the  impugned judgment, which,  

in our opinion, was not justified.

After the High Court upheld the validity of the show  

cause notices, the concerned Market Committees should then  

have issued  notices to the appellants fixing a date, time  

and place for the hearing of the appellants in response to  

that show cause notices, and in that hearing, the appellants  

should  have  been  allowed  to  appear  either  in-person  or  

through their representatives and permitted to file their  

objections  and  any  other  material  which  they  wished  to  

produce  and  only  thereafter  should  the  matter  have  been  

decided, one way or the other, by the Market Committees  

concerned,  by  a  reasoned  order  after  considering  the  

response of the appellants as well as the other material.   

It appears that the above procedure was not followed  

and,  hence,  in  our  opinion,  there  was  violation  of  the  

principles of natural justice.  

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Civil Appeal NO(s). 3630/2007 & 3631/2007

After  the  impugned  judgment  of  the  High  Court,  the  

concerned Market Committees never fixed any date, time and  

place for the hearing of the appellants in response to the  

show cause notices but straightaway it proceeded to issue  

notices dated 27.07.2005 directing the appellants to pay the  

market fee on certified seeds which, in our opinion, was not  

justified.  Hence, we set aside the notices dated 27.07.2005  

but we permit the Market Committees concerned to issue fresh  

notices to the appellants fixing therein the date, time and  

place for the hearing of the appellants to the show cause  

notices, and on that date the appellants can file their  

response and also produce any other material which they wish  

to  produce  and  only  thereafter  the  Market  Committees  

concerned can proceed to decide the matter by a reasoned  

order  uninfluenced  by  any  observations  made  by  the  High  

Court in the impugned judgment.

We make it clear that we are not making any comment on  

the  merits of  the controversy.  We leave  it open  to the  

concerned authorities to decide the matter after hearing the  

appellants as directed above.

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Civil Appeal NO(s). 3630/2007 & 3631/2007

The Appeals are disposed of accordingly.  No costs.  

........................J.  (MARKANDEY KATJU)

.........................J.          (GYAN SUDHA MISRA) NEW DELHI; MARCH 03, 2011.

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