Editor: I. Mallikarjuna Sharma Volume 11: 15-31 March 2015 No. 5-6

(2015) 1 LAW Shreya Singhal v. Union of India [IND-SC] ISC-157
states that a valid licence issued by the
Administrator “may contain such conditions,
limitations and restrictions as the Administrator
may think fit to impose and different conditions,
limitations and restrictions may be imposed for
different classes of dealers”. On the face of it,
this sub-section confers such wide and vague
power upon the Administrator that it is difficult
to limit its scope. In our opinion Section 27(2)(d)
of the Act must be struck down as an
unreasonable restriction on the fundamental right
of the petitioners to carry on business. It appears,
however, to us that if Section 27(2)(d) and
Section 27(6) of the Act are invalid the licensing
scheme contemplated by the rest of Section 27 of
the Act cannot be worked in practice. It is,
therefore, necessary for Parliament to enact fresh
legislation imposing appropriate conditions and
restrictions for the grant and renewal of licences
to dealers. In the alternative the Central
Government may make appropriate rules for the
same purpose in exercise of its rule-making
power under Section 114 of the Act.”
67. In A.K. Roy & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.,
[1982] 2 S.C.R. 272, a part of Section 3 of the
National Security Ordinance was read down on
the ground that “acting in any manner prejudicial
to the maintenance of supplies and services
essential to the community” is an expression so
vague that it is capable of wanton abuse. The
Court held:
“What we have said above in regard to the
expressions ‘defence of India’, ‘security of
India’, 'security of the State' and ‘relations of
India with foreign powers’ cannot apply to the
expression “acting in any manner prejudicial to
the maintenance of supplies and services
essential to the community” which occurs in
Section 3(2) of the Act. Which supplies and
services are essential to the community can
easily be defined by the legislature and indeed,
legislations which regulate the prices and
possession of essential commodities either
enumerate those commodities or confer upon the
appropriate Government the power to do so. In
the absence of a definition of ‘supplies and
services essential to the community’, the
detaining authority will be free to extend the
application of this clause of sub-section (2) to
any commodities or services the maintenance of
supply of which, according to him, is essential to
the community.
But that is not all. The Explanation to subsection
(2) gives to the particular phrase in that
sub-section a meaning which is not only
uncertain but which, at any given point of time,
will be difficult to ascertain or fasten upon.
According to the Explanation, no order of
detention can be made under the National
Security Act on any ground on which an order of
detention may be made under the Prevention of
Blackmarketing and Maintenance of Supplies of
Essential Commodities Act, 1980. The reason for
this, which is stated in the Explanation itself, is
that for the purposes of sub-section (2), “acting
in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of
supplies essential to the community” does not
include “acting in any manner prejudicial to the
maintenance of supplies of commodities
essential to the community” as defined in the
Explanation to sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the
Act of 1980. Clauses (a) and (b) of the
Explanation to Section 3(1) of the Act of 1980
exhaust almost the entire range of essential
commodities. Clause (a) relates to committing or
instigating any person to commit any offence
punishable under the Essential Commodities Act,
10 of 1955, or under any other law for the time
being in force relating to the control of the
production, supply or distribution of, or trade and
commerce in, any commodity essential to the
community. Clause (b) of the Explanation to
Section 3(1) of the Act of 1980 relates to dealing
in any commodity which is an essential
commodity as defined in the Essential
Commodities Act, 1955, or with respect to which
provisions have been made in any such other law
as is referred to in clause (a). We find it quite
difficult to understand as to which are the
remaining commodities outside the scope of the
Act of 1980, in respect of which it can be said
that the maintenance of their supplies is essential
to the community. The particular clause in subsection
(2) of Section 3 of the National Security
Act is, therefore, capable of wanton abuse in
that, the detaining authority can place under
detention any person for possession of any
commodity on the basis that the authority is of
the opinion that the maintenance of supply of
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Law Animated World, 15-31 March 2015