These ten Rules which involve the same points were heard analogously and are taken up together for disposal. The Rules are for quashing ten criminal proceedings, being Cases Nos. P. R. 864 to 873 of 1968, pending in the Court of Sri S. N. Mukherjee, Presidency Magistrate, 15th Court, Calcutta, under Section 66 of the Calcutta Police Act (Act IV of 1966) against the accused-opposite, party No. 2 and under S. 66 of the said Act read with S. 109 of the Indian Penal Code, against the petitioner No. 1

2. The facts leading on to the Rules may be put in a short compass. The petitioner No. 1 in each Rule is the Chairman of the Standing works and Town Planning Committee of the Calcutta Corporation, the petitioner No. 2 constituted under S. 14 of the Calcutta Municipal Act (West Bengal Act XXXIII of 1951) and the accused-opposite party No. 2 is a hawker selling his articles on the payment of the Chowringhee Road after obtaining a local temporary licence from the Corporation of Calcutta under schedule IV, Rule 1, Item 142 and schedule IV, Rule 2 of the Calcutta Municipal Act, 1951. On the 18th August, 1968, the accused opposite-parties in the different Rules were arrested by S.I.S. Dhar