S.B. SINHA, J.- Leave granted.

2. These appeals at the instance of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (for short "the Board") and the State of Tamil Nadu are directed against a judgment and order dated 19-7-2005 passed by a Division Bench of the Madras High Court dismissing the writ appeals filed by the appellants herein arising out of a judgment and order dated 23-4-1999 passed by a learned Single Judge of the said Court.

3. The basic facts of the matter are not in dispute.

4. The State of Tamil Nadu despite the parliamentary enactment of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 (for short "the 1948 Act") enacted the Tamil a Nadu Revision of Tariff Rates on Supply of Electrical Energy Act, 1978 (for short "the 1978 Act"), the relevant provisions whereof are as under:

"3. Tariff rates for consumption of electrical energy.-Notwithstanding anything contained in the Tamil Nadu Essential Articles Control and Requisitioning (Temporary Powers) Act, 1949 (Tamil Nadu Act 29 of 1949), the tariff rates payable to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board by any consumer on the electrical energy supplied by the Board shall be as specified in the Schedule to this Act.

4. Power of the State Government to amend t