K.K. Mathew, J.

1. The petitioners in these writ petitions are manufacturers for sale of ayurvedic or allopathic medicinal preparations. They challenge the validity of S.12A, 56 A and 68A of the Abkari Act, Act 1 of 1077 and the Kerala Spirituous Preparations (Control) Rules, 1969, for short the Rules, passed in exercise of the power conferred by S.29 of the Abkari Act. They challenge the validity of the sections on the ground that the State legislature has no competency to enact them and the Rules, because they impose unreasonable restrictions upon the fundamental right of the petitioners to carry on their trade of manufacturing and selling medicinal preparations.

2. S.12A provides that no preparation to which liquor or intoxicating drug is added during the process of its manufacture or in which alcohol is self generated during such process shall be manufactured in excess of the quantity specified by the Commissioner, provided that in specifying the quantity of a medicinal preparation, the Commissioner shall have due regard to the total requirement of that preparation for consumption or use in the State. S.56A provides for the conviction and punishment of a per on who allows