GOPAL RAO EKBOTE, J.

( 1 ) THESE 54 petitioners arc the ratepayers of Kurnool Telephone Exchange. They move for a. writ of mandumas directing the respondents to forbear from giving effect to notification S. O. No. 3671, dated 4th October, [968. The impugned notification states that in pursuance of para, (a) of section III of Rule 434 of Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, as introduced by S. O. No. 627 dated 8th March, 1960, the Director general, Posts and Telegraphs, hereby specifies the first November, 1968, as the date on which the measured rate system will be introduced in Kurnool Telephone exchange, Andhra Pradesh.

( 2 ) PRIOR to the said notification flat rate system was in vogue in Kurnool telephone Exchange. Under the flat rate system a specified sum of Rs. 340 per year was prescribed which the subscriber has to pay irrespective of the number of calls he puts in. But under the measured rate system, the subscriber is permitted a minimum number of calls without paying for such calls, that is to say, 150 calls per quarter. Any number of calls over and above the minimum calls thus permitted free of charge are charged at specified rates i. e. , 15 np. per call. The subscriber under th

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