Inclusive definition of agricultural produce extends to tanned leather as a processed form of hides and skins.

The Supreme Court construed the inclusive definition of "agricultural produce" under the U.P. Krishi Utpadan Mandi Adhiniyam, 1964 as extending to processed forms of items listed in the Schedule. Because "hides and skins" are scheduled animal husbandry products, tanned leather was treated as a processed form of that commodity after cleaning, curing and preservation. The Court held that commercial distinctness from raw hide or skin did not prevent coverage under the Act. On that construction, tanned leather remained within the statutory definition and was liable to mandi fee.

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Issues: Whether tanned leather falls within the expression "agricultural produce" under section 2(a) of the U.P. Krishi Utpadan Mandi Adhiniyam, 1964, so as to attract mandi fee.

Analysis: The definition of "agricultural produce" in section 2(a) is inclusive and extends not only to items specified in the Schedule but also to any such item in processed form. Schedule G includes "hides and skins" under animal husbandry. The decisive question, therefore, was not whether tanned leather is commercially distinct from raw hide or skin, but whether it is a processed form of the scheduled item. The Court held that the conversion of hide and skin into tanned leather involves cleaning, curing and preservation, amounting to processing, and that even if the end-product may be treated as a different commodity in commercial parlance, it still remains hide or skin for the purposes of the Act. The Hindi expression used in the State legislation also supported this construction, since the term employed was broad enough to include leather in all its forms.

Conclusion: Tanned leather is covered by the definition of "agricultural produce" and is liable to mandi fee under the Act.

Final Conclusion: The statutory scheme was construed broadly to include processed forms of scheduled agricultural produce, and the challenge to levy on tanned leather failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute defines agricultural produce in inclusive terms to include specified items and their processed forms, a commodity that emerges from processing a scheduled item remains covered even if it is commercially regarded as a distinct article.

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