T. Vaiphei, J.

1. The legislative competence of the State of Meghalaya to enact Section 106 of the Meghalaya Value Added Tax Act, 2003 ("the Act" for short) is called into question by thirteen petitioners in this bunch of writ petitions. As they involve identical questions of law and facts, they were heard together, and are now being disposed of by this common judgment.

2. To comprehend and decide the controversy in these writ petitions, we will first refer to the fact in W.P. (C) No. (SH) of 2007 and then apply our decision to the remaining cases. The petitioner is a society under the name and style of "MES Builders' Asscociation" registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 with one of its branches located at Shillong, and has a membership of 40 builders/contractors. The members of this society are undertaking construction works on behalf of Garrison Engineer under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, and are Registered Dealers with the Sales Tax Authority of the State of Meghalaya. In the year 2003, the State of Meghalaya had enacted the Meghalaya Value Added Tax Act, 2003 for levying of value added tax on sales and purchase of goods in the State, which c