A.K. JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR, J.

1. In all these writ petitions a common issue arises and hence they are taken up together for consideration and disposed by this common judgment.

2. The issue involved in these writ petitions is with regard to the liability of a person, who purchases a vehicle from another, to discharge the liability of the erstwhile owner under the Kerala Motor Transport Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1985, (hereinafter referred to as 1985 Act, for short), and pertaining to the period when the vehicle was under the ownership and control of the erstwhile owner. The cause of action for the writ petitions arose when the purchasers of the vehicles approached the taxation authorities under the Kerala Motor vehicle Taxation Act for remitting the tax in respect of the vehicles purchased by them. At that stage, the taxation authorities insisted on proof of payment of welfare fund dues under the Kerala Motor Transport Workers Welfare Fund Act 1985, as a precondition for accepting the tax dues in respect of the vehicle. This demand was made by the taxation authorities in terms of Section 4(7) of the Kerala motor Vehicle Taxation Act, 1976, the validity of which has been uph