SARDA PLYWOOD LTD. AND ANR versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

Citation: [1990] SUPP. 3 S.C.R. 6 · Decided: 09-04-1990 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: M.N. VENKATACHALIAH, K. JAYACHANDRA REDDY · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

A 
SARDA PLYWOOD LTD. AND ANR. 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. 
APRIL 9, 1990 
B 
[M.N. VENKATACHALIAH AND K. JAYACHANDRA 
REDDY, JJ.] 
Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914-0bject and scope of 
Destructive l11Sects and Pests Act, 1914-Section 3-Restriction 
on imported articles-Purpose of-Imported timber for use in plywood 
C 
manufacture-Whether amenable to Quarantine regulations under the 
Notification dated 27. IO. 1989. 
Notification dated 27.10.1989-Clause ( 1) of para 2-"Plant"-
Whether includes timber logs. 
D 
Words and Phrases-'Plant'-'Timber Iog'-'Quantine'-Meaning 
of. 
• 
The petitioners filed a writ petition in the High Court, challenging 
• 
E 
the Notification dated 27 .10.1989 issued under the Destructive lllsects 
and Pests Act, 1914. 
Examining the question whether certain logs of timber imported 
by the petitioners from foreign countries for use in the manufacture of 
plywood were amenable to Quarantine regulations under the aforesaid 
statutory notification, the High Court dismissed the writ petition. 
F 
The petitioners filed the Special Leave Petition, against the High 
G 
Court's judgment contending that the imported timber logs were not 
likely to come into contact with any crop or plant but were directly 
removed to the factory where plywood was manufactured, and there 
was no possibility of the insects or the fungus or the pests in them 
infecting any plant. 
Dismissing the petition, this Court, 
HELD: 1. The object of the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 
1914 is to protect plant-life in lndia from such alien insects, fungus and 
pests which might be introduced into the country through imported 
H 
articles contaminated with them or carried by them. This object ls 
•· 
_j 
• 
SARDA PLYWOOD v. U.0.l. 
7 
sought to be achieved by preventing the entry into the soil of India, of 
A 
such potential carriers. The question whether after such import the 
insects, fungus, or pests actually infect plant-life or not is not the deci· 
sive factor. The very existence of a possibility of such infection is 
sufficient justification. The main purpose is to prevent their very entry 
into India. The need for treatment and the like envisaged in the notifica· 
tion rightly pre-supposes the potentiality of the timber logs for carrying 
B 
those insects and pests. [llG-H, 12A] 
2.1 It is in the public interest that State prohibits or regulates 
entry into its territories harmful substances, impure food, animals or 
persons having contagious diseases or articles which are a potential 
danger to the health, safety well-being and ·good morals of the com· 
munity or the health of the flora and the fauna. [SF ·G] 
2.2. The extent of the prohibition or regulation must be com· 
mensurate with a reasonable relation to the object and should not be 
unduly restrictive of the citizen's rights. [ llA] 
Encyclopedia Americana (Volume 23); Interstate Barriers in Indio 
and American Constitutional Experience: Lawrence F. Ebb: Stanford 
Law Review, Vol .• II 1958-59, Referred. 
c 
D 
3. The expression "plant" is defined in clause (i) of para 2 Of the 
Notification, to mean any plant or part thereof whether living or dead, 
E 
trees, shrubs, nursery stock and includes all vegetatively propagated 
materials. The timber logs of the kind concerned in the present case fall 
within this definition. [llE·F] 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Special Leave Petition 
No. 1277 of 1990. 
F 
AND 
I.A. No. 3 of 1990. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 15. 1.1990 of the Delhi High 
CourtinC.W.P.82ofl990. 
G 
M.L. Lahoty, H. Shekhar, S.C. Sharma, P.S. Jha and Mrs. 
Shipra Kha janchi for the Petitioners; 
Ashok H. Desai, Solicitor General, S. Ganesh and Mrs. S. Suri 
for the Respondents. 
H 
8 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1990] Supp. 3 S.C.R. 
A 
K. Parasaran, V. Radhakrishnan and V. Balachandran for the 
B 
c 
D 
Intervenor. 
The following Order of the Court was delivered by 
The question raised before the High Court, and reiterated here, 
was whether certain logs of timber imported by the Petitioners from 
Korea, Burma, Malaysia etc. for use in the manufacture of plywood 
were amenable to Quarantine regulations under the statutory notifica-
tion dated 27 .10.1989 issued under the provisions of an agricultural 
quarantine law viz., the Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914 
(hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'). It was contended before the 
High Court that the quarantine regulations for the detention, inspec-
tion, fumigation, etc of the logs of

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