Judgment

HIDAYATULAH, C.J.I. (on behalf of himself, Mitter, Ray and Jaganmohan Reddy, JJ.): - These are petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution by the Coffee Board, Bangalore directed against the Joint Commercial Tax Officer, Madras and the State of Tamil Nadu questioning the demand of Sales Tax on certain transactions of sales which the Board claims are sales in the course of export of Coffee out of India and thus not liable to Sales Tax. A preliminary objection was taken at the hearing that the petitions do not lie since no question of a fundamental right is involved. We shall deal with the preliminary objection later as the main petition and the preliminary objection are inter-linked. But before we mention the points in controversy it is necessary to state the facts more fully.

2. The petitioner is a statutorily constituted body and functions under the Coffee Act, 1942 (VII of l942). This Act was passed to provide for the development under the Control of the Union of the Coffee Industry. Its main function is to constitute a Coffee Board. Previously there was an Ordinance intituled the Indian Coffee Market Expansion Ordinance, 1940 (13 of 1940). A Board called the Indian Cof