JUDGMENT

DESAI, J.—When the hearing in this group of petitions concluded, we pronounced the following order :

"All the Writ Petitions are dismissed and any interim order in each matter is hereby vacated. In the matters which are listed as ready, the petitioner shall pay cost to the respondents in one set in each petition and there will be no order to costs in the matters which are shown as unready.

Reasons will follow."

Here are the reasons.

2. The petitioners, in this group of petitions, under Art. 32 of the Constitution are coal-merchants, who, according to them, have been denied the use of the railways for transport of coal from various coalfields and way-side stations to their destinations by the illegal and unconstitutional action of the railway administration. Constitutional conundrum invoked by them is the alleged 98 violation of Art. 14 in that while certain transporters of coal have been accorded priority in the matter of transport of coal such as the Central and the State Governments and the sponsored and recommended transporters, the petitioners who are coal merchants were denied equality of opportunity in the matter of, transport of coal by railway. Their further grievance is that total prohibition of booking and transport of coal as requested by petitioners, by the railway administration, an instrumentality of the State envisaged by Art. 12 imposes an unreasonable restriction on their fundamental freedom to carry an trade guaranteed by Art. 19(l)(g) of the Constitution and hence impugned orders are invalid.

3. There are different petitioners from different areas voicing their grievance against action of different zonal railway administrations but the running thread in the catalogue of grievances is the same and therefore a few representative facts to appreciate the contention as set out in Civil Writ Petition No. 8003-04 by M/s. Raniganj Coal Corporation & Ors., may be briefly enumerated. This petition is adopted as representative for the additional reason that a very comprehensive counter affidavit has been filed in it on behalf of the respondents.

4. Petitioners aver that they are coal traders and undertake supply of coal and coke throughout India but in particular in the States of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Delhi. They carry on the additional business of supplying slack coal purchased from private collieries situated in the State of Meghalaya. In order to move coal from the collieries to consumers, petitioners have to transport coal from various stations served by North-Eastern Frontier Railways (Meter gauge) New Gauhati and Badarpur Ghat in Silchar District in the State of Assam and Meghalaya. For the purpose of transporting coal, they have to indent wagons as they want to transport coal in wagon-loads as the expression is understood in contradistinction to smalls and clubbing. They submit indent for wagons according to the procedure prescribed in the relevant rules. Petitioners aver that prior to April 1, 1972, there was no restriction on booking of coal in wagon-loads. The Govt. of India, Ministry of Railways issued an order dated April 1, 1972 which reads as under:

"Government of India (Bharat Sarkar, Ministry of Railways (Rail Mantranalaya) Railway Board

No. TCR/1510/71

New Delhi, dated 1st April 1972

12th Chaitra, 1894

The General Manager

11, Indian Railways

The Railways Board have decided that in the list of abbreviations at page-14, Chapter VI of the IRCA Alphabetical list of Railway Stations in India (corrected up to 31-3-79) an additional entry below the abbreviations G should be incorporated as under :

GX-Open for goods, traffic of coal, descriptions excluding livestock horse, large animals such as camels, elephants etc. carriages on their wheels and motor cars but not open for outward booking of coal, coal shale, lignite, patent fuel, soft coke and hard coke in wagon loads. The Railway Administrations are here by directed to decide and notify the names of stations to which this new provision woul