P.R. RAMACHANDRA MENON, J.

1. Appellants were the petitioners in WP (C) No. 38400 of 2010. It arises from the common judgment passed by the learned Single Judge in the said case, along with the connected cases, declining interference with regard to the challenge raised against the vires of Ext. P4 notification issued by the Government of Kerala. The main contention was that it was beyond the power, jurisdiction and competence of the State, having not been issued under Section 29(2)(k) of the Kerala Abkari Act and further that presence of starch detected in the samples of 'toddy' taken from the petitioners would not attract any offence under Section 57(a) of the Abkari Act. The second appellant is the licencee of toddy shops in Group No. II coming within the area of Excise Range, Mattancherry for the year 2010-11; whereas the first appellant was allegedly an employee in toddy shop No. 14. On 16/08/2010 by about 4.30 p.m. a surprise inspection was conducted by the competent authorities of the Excise Department in the aforesaid shops and samples of toddy were taken. A crime was registered (as Crime No. 30/2010) based on the report of chemical analysis of the samples revealing