Bowles

The Administrator of the Office of Price Administration has sued the defendant, who is the operator of a gasoline service station, at Los Angeles, California, “at which petroleum products have been and now are sold at retail”, charging him with the violation of Section 4(a) of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix § 904(a), and of Revised Maximum Price Regulation 137, as amended, 9 Federal Register 1117.

Specifically, the complaint avers that the defendant has sold automotive gasoline containing an octane number less than 75 ASTM at 20 cents per gallon, when the maximum price, under Section 6(a) of R. M.P.R. 137, is 18 cents per gallon. The complaint asks us to enjoin future violations.

The defendant, in addition to his answer, in which he denies the allegations of the complaint, has filed a cross-complaint for declaratory relief, in which he seeks a declaration that the regulation does .not prohibit the sale of the type of gasoline involved at premium prices, or, if it does, that it is arbitrary, unreasonable, discriminatory, unconstitutional, illegal and void.

The Administrator has moved to dismiss the cross-complaint.

At the outset, we are confronted…