(1) The State Government shall by notification establish a market committee for every notified market area and shall specify its headquarters.
[12. Constitution of Committees. - (1) A Committee shall consist of eleven or nineteen members as the State Government may in each case determine, out of whom one shall be an official appointed by the State Government :
Provided that where in a notified market area there is in existence a Co-operative Society, the Committee shall consist of twelve or twenty members as the case may be.
(2) The remaining members shall be nominated by the State Government by notification as follows :-
(a) if the Committee is to consist of eleven members, there shall be nominated:-
(i) seven members from amongst the producers of the notified market area;
(ii) two members from amongst the persons licensed under Section 10; and
(iii) one member from amongst the person licensed under Section 13 :
Provided that the members nominated under this clause shall include at least one person belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes and one person belonging to the Backward Classes, who are otherwise qualified to be nominated as members of the Committee;
(b) if the Committee is to consist of twelve members there shall be nominated, in addition to the members specified in clause (a), one member representing the Co-operative Society :
(c) if the Committee is to consist of nineteen members, there shall be nominated -
(i) twelve members from amongst the producers of the notified market area;
(ii) four members from amongst the persons licensed under Section 10; and
(iii) two members from amongst the persons licensed under Section 13 :
Provided that the members nominated under this clause shall include at least two persons belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes and one person belonging to the Backward Classes, who are otherwise qualified to be nominated as members of the Committee;
(d) if the Committee is to consist of twenty members, there shall be nominated in addition to the members specified in clause (c); one member representing the Co-operative Societies :
Provided that where, in the case of sub-clause (iii) of clause (a) or sub-clause (iii) of clause (c), there are no persons licensed under section 13 or the number of such person is less than those required to be nominated, the deficiency shall be made up by nominating from amongst the persons licensed under Section 10.
(3) No act done, or proceeding taken, under this Act by the Committee shall be invalid merely on the ground -
(a) of any vacancy or defect in the constitution of the Committee; or
(b) of any defect or irregularity in the nomination of a person acting as a member thereof; or
(c) of any defect or irregularity in such act or proceeding not affecting the merits of the case.
(4) Subject to rules made under this Act, the disqualifications specified in sub-section (5) of Section 3 shall also apply for purposes of becoming a member of a Committee.
(5) The State Government shall constitute Committees in accordance with the provisions of this Section :
Provided that the State Government may, until such Committees are constituted and their Chairman and Vice-Chairman are [nominated] in accordance with the provisions of this act, appoint such person or persons, as may be considered suitable in this behalf, to exercise the powers and perform the functions of such Committee.
Explanation. - For the purposes of the proviso to sub-section (5), any person or persons appointed by the State Government before the commencement of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment) Act, 1980, to carry out the functions of a Committee shall be deemed to be person or persons appointed by the State Government to exercise the powers and perform the functions of those Committee for which they were appointed.]