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PETITIONER: SAT PAL GUPTA & ANR.

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: STATE OF HARYANA & ANR.

DATE OF JUDGMENT05/02/1982

BENCH: CHANDRACHUD, Y.V. ((CJ) BENCH: CHANDRACHUD, Y.V. ((CJ) KOSHAL, A.D.

CITATION:  1982 AIR  798            1982 SCR  (3) 196  1982 SCC  (1) 610        1982 SCALE  (1)89

ACT:      Essential Commodities Act, 1955-"Foodstuff"-Meaning of- Rice bran  used to feed poultry and cattle-Whether essential commodity within the meaning of the Act.

HEADNOTE:      Sub-clause  (i)   of  section  2(a)  of  the  Essential Commodities Act  1955 defines  an "essential  commodity"  to mean   "cattle   fodder   including   oilcakes   and   other concentrates" and by sub-clause (v) an "essential commodity" means "food  stuffs, including  edible oilseeds  and  oils." Clause 3  of the  Haryana Rice Bran (Distribution and Price) Control Order  1967 provides  that no  dealer or  owner of a rice mill  shall sell  or offer  to sell or supply rice bran save against  a permit  granted by  certain officers  of the State Government.      By  a   writ  petition   under  Article   226  of   the Constitution, the appellants impugned the validity of clause 3 of  the Control  Order on the ground that rice bran is not an essential  commodity and that for this reason power under section  3  could  not  be  exercised  for  the  purpose  of regulating its  sale or  supply. The High Court rejected the appellants’ writ petition.      Dismissing the appeal, ^      HELD : Rice bran being a "foodstuff" within the meaning of section 2(a) (v) of the Act, it is an essential commodity and therefore,  the power conferred by section 3 can be used to regulate its production, sale or supply. [199 F]      The term  "foodstuffs" means  food  of  any  kind.  The dictionary meanings  of "food" are not restricted to what is eaten  by  human  beings  for  nourishment  and  sustenance. According to  them,  what  one  takes  into  the  system  to maintain life  and growth  or what is taken into the body of an organism in order to sustain growth is food. [199 C-E]      Rice bran,  which is  a bye-product  of the husking and milling process  of paddy,  consists of  the layer that lies between husk  and the  kernel. It  is a  food stuff which is commonly used as poultry and cattle feed. Any stuff which is commonly used  as food by the generality of living beings is foodstuff; it  is not  legitimate to restrict its meaning to things used  as food  by human beings. The animal kingdom is

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not any  the less  important in  the cosmic  scheme than the human empire  and it  is a  distortion to  say that  it is a matter of  little or  no concern  to the  State whether  the cattle and  the poultry get their due ration of the means of their subsistence.  Cattle feed and poultry feed are feed to the  cattle   and  the   poultry  and   therefore  they  are foodstuffs. [198 E-H] 197      Cattle and poultry are living components of the natural environment and  there is  no reason  to exclude  that which they  eat  or  feed  upon  from  the  meaning  of  the  word "foodstuffs". If  what the  human beings  eat is food, so is what  the  other  living  beings  eat.  "Cattle  fodder"  is expressly  brought   within   the   compass   of   essential commodities by  section 2(a)  (i). It would be illogical if, in that  context, rice  bran is excluded from the purview of essential commodities  on the ground that it is eaten by the poultry and not by Homo Sapiens. [199 B-C]

JUDGMENT:      CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 1099(N) of 1972.      Appeal by  special leave  from the  judgment and  order dated the  12th October, 1971 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Civil Writ No. 3400 of 1971.      B.P. Maheshwari and Suresh Sethi for the Petitioner.      K.G. Bhagat and M.N. Shroff for the Respondents.      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by      CHANDRACHUD, C.J.  The appellants,  in this  appeal  by special leave,  are dealers  in rice,  paddy and  rice bran. They also  have an  associate rice milling and husking plant which is  run under  the name  and style  of  Jagdamba  Rice Mills, Traori.      Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 10 of 1955, empowers the  Central Government,  under  the  circumstances stated in  that section,  to issue notified orders providing for the regulation of production, supply and distribution of any  essential  commodity.  Under  Section  5,  the  Central Government can  delegate its powers to a State Government or an officer  or authority  subordinate to  it. In exercise of that power,  the Central Government issued a notification on July 24,  1967 delegating to the State Governments the power conferred upon  it by  Section 3  of the Act. In exercise of such delegated  power, Respondent  1, the  State of Haryana, promulgated the  Haryana Rice  Bran (Distribution and Price) Control Order,  1967. Clause  3 of  the said  Order provides that no  dealer or  owner of a rice mill shall sell or offer to sell or supply rice bran save against a permit granted by the Director,  Food and Supplies, or the District Magistrate or any  other officer  authorised by  the Director  in  that behalf. The  appellants filed  a writ petition under Article 226 of  the Constitution  in the  High Court  of Punjab  and Haryana, challenging  clause  3  of  the  aforesaid  Control Order, on the 198 ground that  rice bran  is not  an essential  commodity  and therefore, the  power conferred  by section  3  of  the  Act cannot be  exercised for  the purpose of regulating its sale or supply.  This contention  has been  negatived by the High Court.      It is  true that the power conferred by section 3(1) of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, can be exercised by the Central Government  or its  delegate, only  if it  is of the

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opinion that it is necessary or expedient to provide for the regulation of  any  ‘essential  commodity’.  The  only  sub- clauses of  section 2(a)  which are relevant for the purpose of deciding whether rice bran is an essential commodity, are sub-clauses (i)  and (v).  Sub-clause (i)  of  section  2(a) defines an  ‘essential commodity’  to mean  "cattle  fodder, including oil-cakes  and other  concentrates". By sub-clause (v), an  ‘essential commodity’  means "foodstuffs  including edible oil-seeds  and oils".  If rice  bran is either cattle fodder or  foodstuff, it would be an essential commodity and the  Central   Government  or   its  delegate,   the   State Government, would have the power to regulate its production, supply and distribution, and trade and commerce therein.      Coming first  to the question argued by Shri Maheshwari as to  whether rice  bran is a ‘foodstuff’, it is well known that rice  bran is  commonly used  as poultry  feed and  not uncommonly as  cattle feed. This is undisputed. Rice bran is a bye-product  of the  husking and  milling process of paddy and consists  of the  layer which  lies between the husk and the kernel.  The affidavit  of Shri  T.K. Banerji, Director, Food and Supplies, Haryana which was filed in the High Court shows that rice bran is used in place of wheat bran or wheat middlings in  livestock feeding.  To the  same effect is the affidavit filed in this Court by Shri H.D. Bansal, Director, Food and Supplies, Haryana. If this is the true position, we are unable to appreciate that rice bran cannot be considered to be  a foodstuff. Any stuff which is commonly used as food by the  generality of living beings is foodstuff : it is not legitimate to  restrict the  meaning of  that word to things which are  used as  food by human beings. The animal kingdom is not  any the less important in the cosmic scheme than the human empire  and it  is a  distortion to  say that  it is a matter of  little or  no concern  to the  State whether  the cattle and  the poultry get their due ration of the means of their subsistence.  Cattle feed and poultry feed are food to the  cattle   and  the   poultry,  and  therefore  they  are foodstuffs. 199      The word  ‘foodstuffs’ which  occurs in  clause (v)  of Section 2(a) is not defined in the Act and therefore it must receive its  ordinary and natural meaning, that is to say, a meaning which  takes account of and accords with the day-to- day  affairs   of  life.   Cattle  and  poultry  are  living components of the natural environment and there is no reason to exclude  that which  they eat  or  feed  upon,  from  the meaning of  the word ‘foodstuffs’. If, what the human beings eat is food, so is what the other living beings eat. ‘Cattle fodder’ is expressly brought within the compass of essential commodities by  clause (i)  of section  2(a).  It  would  be illogical if,  in that  context, rice  bran is excluded from the purview  of essential  commodities on the ground that it is eaten by the poultry and not by Homo Sapiens.      By ‘foodstuffs’  is meant food of any kind. The Shorter Oxford English  Dictionary (Third  Edition) says that ‘food’ is "what  one takes  into the  system to  maintain life  and growth". According  to  Webster’s  Third  New  International Dictionary,   ‘food’    means   "material    consisting   of carbohydrates, fats,  proteins and supplementary substances, that is  taken or  absorbed into  the body of an organism in order to sustain growth, repair, and all vital processes and to  furnish   energy  for  all  activity  of  the  organism; something that  nourishes or  develops or  sustains".  These dictionary meanings of the word "food" are not restricted to what  is   eaten  by   human  beings   for  nourishment  and sustenance. According  to them,  what  one  takes  into  the

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system to maintain life and growth or what is taken into the body of an organism in order to sustain growth is food.      We are  therefore of the opinion that rice bran being a foodstuff within  the meaning of section 2(a)(v) of the Act, it is  an  essential  commodity  and  therefore,  the  power conferred  by   section  3  can  be  used  to  regulate  its production, sale or supply.      The affidavits  filed on behalf of the State of Haryana have attempted  to make  out a  case that  rice bran is also used for  human consumption. A research bulletin brought out by the  Department of  Chemical Engineering  and Technology, Punjab University,  Chandigarh, is  cited therein as showing that the  oil extracted  from rice  bran can  be used  in  a variety of  ways in  the edible  field as,  for example, for fat-frying, cooking  and in  the preparation  of salads  and sauces, and  that in  Japan, it  has been  used  for  edible purposes for  many years.  This claim may or may not be true but we  would like  to have better evidence to uphold it. It may be possible, in 200 course of  time, to process rice bran by the use of advanced food technology in order to make it a common article of food for human consumption.      Our attention  is drawn  by Shri Bhagat, who appears on behalf of  the Haryana  Government, to  a decision  of  this Court in  M/s Sachdeva & Sons & Ors v. State of Punjab & Ors (Civil Appeal  No. 817  of 1980  decided on  May 7, 1980) in which it  was held  that rice bran is "cattle fodder" within the meaning  of section  2(a)(i) of  the Act. We need not go into that  question since we are of the view that rice bran, being a foodstuff, is an essential commodity.      The decisions  in  The  State  of  Bombay  v.  Virkumar Gulabchand Shah(1)  and Shriniwas  Pannalal Chockani  v. The Crown(2) which were cited by Shri Maheshwari and Shri Bhagat respectively do  not bear  upon the question in issue before us and need not, therefore, be discussed.      For these  reasons we  dismiss the  appeal, but without costs. P.B.R.                                    Appeal dismissed. 201