A.K. JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR, J.

1. The issues involved in these three writ petitions being similar, they are taken up together for consideration and disposed by this common judgment. The petitioners in the writ petitions, who are conducting business in Granite Metals, are assessees under the Kerala Value Added Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the KVAT Act). As per the provisions of Section 8(b) of the KVAT Act, any dealer producing granite metals with the aid of mechanized crushing machines may, at his option, instead of paying tax as per the regular mode of assessment under the KVAT Act, pay tax at the compounded rate envisaged under that Section. The compounding provision, as it stood in the Assessment Year 2008-09, reads as follows:-

8. Payment of tax at compounded rates:-

Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 6 –

(a)...................................

(b) Any dealer producing granite metals with the aid of mechanized crushing machine may, at his option, instead of paying tax in accordance with the provisions of the said sections, pay tax at the following rates, namely:-

(ii) For the each crushing machine of size exceeding 30.48 cm x 22.86 cm but not exceeding –