S. R. DAS GUPTA, C. J.

( 1 ) THE petitioner before us is the India Sugars and Refineries, Ltd. , Hospet. In this petition the petitioner is challenging the validity of Section 14 of the Madras Sugar Factories Control (Mysore Amendment) Act and the rules framed thereunder. The facts leading up to this petition may be shortly stated as follows: The Government of Madras had passed an enactment known as the Madras Sugar Factories Control Act no. XX of 1949 dated 13-7-1949. The object of the said Act, as it appears from the preamble thereof, was to provide for the licensing of sugar factories and regulating the supply and the prices of sugarcane used in such factories and for other incidental matters. Sub-section (1) of Section 14 of the said Act authorised the Government, after consulting the Advisory Committee to be set up under the said act, to levy a cess not exceeding four annas per standard maund as defined in the Standards of weight Act, 1939, on sugarcane brought into any area specified in such notification, for consumption, use or sale therein. Sub-section (4) of Section 14 empowered the Government, after consulting the said Advisory Committee, to make rules specifying the authorities by which, the persons from whom, and the manner in which, the cess levied under the said section shall be collected. In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 14 (1) of the said Act, the Government of Madras, on 23-11-1950, issued a notification whereby it directed that a cess of annas eight per ton shall be levied on sugarcane brought into any factory within the State of Madras for consumption, use or sale therein. The said rate of cess was subsequently enhanced to rupee one Per ton by a notification dated 13-8-51. Thereafter, on the lerger of the District of Bellary, which was originally a district of the State of madras, into Mysore, the Government of Mysore passed the Mysore Adaptation of Laws Order, 1953, bringing into force as from 1-10-1953 the Madras Sugar Factories Control Act (XX of 1949) without any modification. Thereafter, the Rajpramukh promulgated an ordinance, being Ordinance No. III of 1953 amending Section 14 of the Madras Act XX of 1949 by removing the clause enjoining the State government to consult the Advisory Committee before issuing a notification under Section 14 (1)of the Act. This Ordinance was replaced by the Mysore Act VII of 1954. Thereafter, the Government of Mysore issued from time to time notifications, the first of such notifications being published on 8-1-1954, in exercise of its powers under the said Act. The notification with which we are concerned in this application was published by the Government on 9-4-1956. It reads as follows:

"in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 14 of the Madras Sugar Factories Control Act, 1049 (Madras Act No. XX of 1949), as in force in Bellary District as amended by the Madras sugar Factories Control (Mysore Amendment) Act, 1954, the Government of Mysore direct that a cess at the rate of three annas and six pies per standard maund (as defined in the Standards of Weight Act, 1939) of sugarcane crushed by the Hospet Sugar Factory (The India Sugars and refineries Ltd.) be levied for the crushing season 1955-56".

It is the issue of this notification which has led the present petitioner to move this court for a writ or other appropriate order in the nature of a writ declaring the said notification and Section 14 of the Madras Sugar Factories (Mysore Amendment) Act and the rules framed thereunder as bad in law, ultra vires of the powers of the State Legislature and otherwise invalid.

( 2 ) THE learned Advocate appearing in support of this petition urged several grounds before us. The principal ground urged by him was that in enacting Section 14 of the Act the legislature has delegated essential matters, e. g. the power to determine the persons to be taxed, to an executive body without laying down any discernible policy or principle on which the said body is to act. The

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