JUDGMENT

SEN, J. :— In all these appeals except the, one by special leave, and the connected transferred cases brought by the appellants, each of which is a company incorporated .under the Companies Act, 1956 engaged in the business of manufacture and sale on a very large scale of textiles generally and also of rayon yarn and staple fibre, both of which form species of what is known as man made fibre i.e. artificial silk, there is a common question as to the constitutional validity of a fee imposed under R. 21 of the Textiles Committee Rules, 1965 made by the Central Government under S. 22 of the Textiles Committee Act, 1963, by the Textiles Committee constituted under S. 3 of the Act, on the production of rayon yarn and staple fibre i.e. man made fibres manufactured by them. These appeals are against the various judgments and orders of the High Courts of Allahabad, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Madras upholding the validity of the levy. The remaining appeal i.e. Civil Appeal No. 121 of 1973 is preferred by the Textiles Committee against the judgment and order of the Kerala High Court taking the view to the contrary.

2. The facts in all these cases are more or less similar. It would s