For the control machinery of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (including Section 3 control orders) to operate in respect of a particular commodity, that commodity must, in the first place:

Section 2(a) of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 defines an 'essential commodity' as a class of goods which the CENTRAL GOVERNMENT declares, by N OTIFICATION, as essential for the life of the community (the categories now largely confined, after the 2020 amendment, to foodstuffs and items specified in the Act). Unless and until a commodity is so notified, the definitional gate of Section 2(a) is not satisfied, and the control machinery of Section 3 cannot attach. Notification under Section 2(a) is therefore the threshold for regulation. The specification/notification is what brings a commodity within the Act.