Judgment

JAGANMOHAN REDDY, J.:- These appeals raise a common question as to whether Dumpers, Rockers and Tractors are motor vehicles within the meaning of the relevant State Motor Vehicles Taxation Acts, and are accordingly taxable thereunder. Apart from these appeals, Bolani Ores Ltd.-Appellant in Civil Appeal No.1816 of 1968-has filed a writ petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Bihar and Orissa Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1980. The question raised in the writ petition will only arise for determination, if the judgment of the High Court of Orissa is held- to be valid, otherwise the question of the constitutional validity of the Bihar and Orissa Motor Vehicles Taxation Act (hereinafter referred to as the Taxation Act ) does not fall for determination as that would be purely academic.

2. The two Civil Appeals Nos. 1816 of 1968 and 1817 of l968 arise out of two suits - one filed by Bolani Ores Ltd. and the other by Orissa Minerals Development Company Ltd. respectively, for a declaration that the machineries in their possession which were described in the respective Schedules to the plaints were not liable for registration under Section 22 of the Indian Motor Vehicl