AVINASH CHAND & ORS.versusAGRICULTURAL PRODUCE MARKET COMMITTEES

                     (2010] 7 S.C.R. 1173


                  AVINASH CHAND & ORS.                                 A
                                v.
        CHAIRMAN MARKET COMMITTEE & ORS.
          (Civil Appeal No. 8229-8230 of 2003)

                          MAY 6, 2010
                                                                       B
  [HARJIT SINGH BEDI AND K.S. RADHAKRISHNAN,
                      JJ.]

     AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE MARKET COMMITTEES:
                                                                       c
     Auctioneers in Market Committees - Working on
commission basis - Age of retirement i.... Instructions issued
by Chief Administrator in 1992 reiterating similar instructions
of 1982, not to continue the services of auctioneers beyond
the age of 60 - Challenged - HELD: The High Court has                  D
rightly held that: (1) till the issuance of the instructions in 1982
as reiterated in 1992 there was no maximum age limit laid
down for auctioneers who had been engaged on commission
basis; (2) the auctioneers were not employees of the Board
or the Committees and their services were not governed by
any Rules; (3) it was only appropriate in the absence of Rules,        E
that the instructions issued by the Chief Administrator which
were in the interest of the Board and the Committees and,
therefore, visualised u/s 33(4)(ii) of the Act, should be made
applicable to the case of the appellants - It cannot be said
that the step taken by the Chief Administrator was arbitrary           F
or without any basis - In the absence of rules, it was open to
the Chief Administrator to fix the retirement age - Punjab
Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961 - s.33(4)(ii) - Punjab
Agr(cu/tural Produce Markets General Rules, 1962 - r.24(5).
                                                                       G
    CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No.
8229-8230 of 2003.

     From the Judgment & Order dated 15.3.2002 of the High
                               1173                                    H
    1174     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [2010] 7 S.C.R.


A   Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in C.W.P. No. 7431
    of 1993 and CWP No. 12091 of 2000.

         Debasis Misra for the· Appellants.

         Sanjay Singh, Ugra Shankar Prasad for the Respondents.
B
         The following Order of the Court was delivered

                                  ORDER
       1. These appeals by way of special leave are directed
C against the judgment of the Division Bench of the Punjab and
  Haryana High Court dated 15th March, 2010 whereby the writ
  petition challenging the provision of a retirement age for
  auctioneers in the Market Committee, have been dismissed.
  The facts are as under:-
D
           2. The appellants, and several others who had filed writ
     petitions in the High Court, were working as auctioneers on
     commission basis in the Market Committee, Kaithal since the
     year 1963-64 as per Rule 24(5) of the Punjab Agricultural
!.:. Produce Markets General Rules, 1962, (hereinafter for short 'the
     Rules'). On 3rd November, 1992, the Chief Administrator,
     Haryana State Agricultural Board addressed a directive to the
     Chairmen and Secretaries of the Market Committees
     reiterating a directive dated 26th August, 1982, that the
F auctioneers on commission basis should not be allowed to work
     beyond the age of 60 years. As a consequence of the
     aforesaid instructions, the services of the appellants were
     terminated on 27th August, 2000 as they had crossed the age
     of 60 years. The instructions aforesaid were accordingly,
G challenged before the High Court. On notice, the respondent
     Marketing Board and the concerned Market Committees
     controverted the pleas raised in the writ petition. It was pointed
     out that the appellants and others like them had been engaged
     on fixed rates on commission basis as per bye-law 28 of the
     Punjab Market Committee Bye-laws, 1963 and that the
H
   AVINASH CHAND & ORS. v. CHAIRMAN MARKET 1175
              COMMITTEE & ORS.

     nstructions had been issued in conformity with Rule 24(5)           A
   ibidem. The High Court, during the course of its judgment
   observed that Section 33(4)(ii) of the Punjab Agricultural
   Produce Markets Act 1961, which was applicable to Haryana
'\\State as well provided that it was open to the Board to issue
   instructions in matters which were likely to adversely affect the     B
   interests of the Committee or the producers 6r dealers or any
   functionaries working in the notified area, and the instructions
   were thus authorised by statute. The Court also noted that in
   the arguments made on behalf of the appellants that the
   instructions of 1992 could not be made retrospectively                c
   applicable to their case, it was pointed out that similar
   instruction had first been issued in the year 1982 (and had only
   been reiterated in the year 1992) and that in any case the
   auctioneers were not employees of the Committees or of the
    Marketing Board. The Court accordingly held that the
                                                                         0
    instructions issued by the Chief Administrator laid down a
   policy and in the absence of a fixed tenure laid down by
    instructions or by Statute or Rules it was not open to the
    appellants to claim that they should be allowed to continue till
   they remained physically fit. The High Court, accordingly,
   ~ismissed the writ petition leading to this appeal. Leave was         E
    granted in the year 2003 and the matter has come up today
    for final disposal. We also notice that although liberty had been
    given on 6th October, 2003 to request for an early hearing and
    despite the fact that the matters are on the list, the counsel for
    the appellant has not appeared before us, although we had            F
    waited for him for some time. In the light of the fact that these
    matters are extremely old, we are not inclined to adjourn them
    any further .

       .3. We have gone through the judgment of the Division             G
  Bench of the High Court very carefully with the assistance of
  the learned counsel for the respondent. Certain facts can be
  culled out from the judgment of the, High Court:(1) that till the
  issuance of the instructions in 1982 as reiterated in 1992 there
  was no maximum age limit laid down for auctioneers who had             H
    1176     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                    [2010] 7 S.C.R.


A been engaged on commission basis; (2) that the auctioneers
  were not employees of the Board or the Committees as they
  were engaged specifically for the purpose of conducting
  auctions on commission basis and that their services were not
  governed by any Rules; (3) it was· only appropriate in the
B absence of Rules, that the instructions issued by the Chief
  Administrator which were in the interest of the Board and the
  Committees and, therefore, visualised under Section 33 (4)(ii)
  of the Act, should be made applicable to the case of the
  appellants; and (4) in the light of the fact that till then, there was
c no instructions regarding the maximum age of the auctioneers,
  it was appropriate for the Board to fix the retirement age at par
  with all government employees who were allowed to continue
  upto the age of 60 years and in this view of the matter, it could
  not be said that the step taken by the Chief Administrator was
  arbitrary or without basis. We endorse the findings of the
0
  Division Bench. In the absence of rules, it was open to the Chief
  Administrator to fix the retirement age and it would be futile for
  the appellants to contend that they should be allowed to
  continue to function till they remained physically fit. We thus find
E no merit in the appeals. Dismissed with no order as to costs.

    R.P.                                         Appeals dismissed.