Judgment

WANCHOO, J. : These four appeals on certificates granted by the High Court at Calcutta arise out of one judgment and will be dealt with together. The brief facts necessary for present purposes are these : In September, 1946, there was food shortage in the Country. In order to relieve this shortage, the Government of India entered into an agreement with the President of Argentine Institute for Promotion of Trade by which it undertook to freeze, requisition and take over and sell to the Argentine Institute and Ship to Argentine 30,000 tons of hessian and in return the Institute guaranteed to obtain licences for shipment from Argentine of maize and wheat offals already purchased by the Government of India in Argentine. This agreement was arrived at on September 27, 1946. In anticipation of this agreement, the Government of India on September 20, 1946, addressed letters to the managing agents of various jute mills in Bengal demanding from them information as to stocks of hessian of certain description held by the mills under their managing agencies and prohibiting them from selling, transferring, removing, consuming or otherwise disposing of any article enumerated in Sch. B to