JUDGMENT

JASWANT SINGH, J. :— These two Civil Appeals Nos. 1418 of 1970 and 582 of 1971, the first by certificate of fitness granted under Article 133 (1) (a) of the Constitution by the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the second by special leave granted by this Court which are directed against the judgments and orders of the said High Court dated December 4, 1969, and July 29, 1970, rendered in Civil Writ Petitions No. 342 of 1969 and No. 2376 of 1970 respectively shall be disposed of by this judgment as they arise out of identical proceedings and raise common questions of law.

2. The appellant, a public limited company incorporated under the India Companies Act, which carried on the business inter alia of manufacture, storage and sale of various kinds of Indian made foreign liquors and had its plants for manufacture and production of bear and distillation and production of the said liquors at Solan (in Himachal Pradesh), at Mohan Nagar (in Uttar Pradesh), at Lucknow (in Uttar Pradesh) and at Kasauli (in Himachal Pradesh) held in the years 1967, 1968 and 1969 a licence in form P.W. H. 2 under Section 22 of the Punjab Excise Act (1 of 1914) (hereinafter referred to as the Act) read