Judgment

WANCHOO, J. : These six petitions under Art. 32 of the Constitution raise a common point and will be dealt with together. The main question raised in all these petitions is whether the State Governments are entitled to tax the three Ayurvedic preparations, namely, Mritasanjibani, Mretasanjibani Sudha and Mritasanjibani Sura, which are manufactured by these petitioners, under the various Excise Acts in force in the respective States. Further points were raised in the petitions as regards the validity of the restrictions imposed in the matter of the import, export, possession and sale of these three Ayurvedic preparations. But the learned conusel for the petitioners stated before us that he was not pressing any other point except one viz., whether the various State-Governments could tax these three Ayurvedic preparations under the various Excise Acts in force in the State concerned. We propose, therefore to deal with this point only in the present cases.

2. The case of the petitioners is briefly this. They carry on business as manufacturers of medicinal preparations according to the Ayurvedic system of medicines manufactured by them are these three preparations. These Ayurvedi