Order.- The petitioners in all these writ petitions barring W.P. Nos. 1266 to 1268 of 1972 pray for the same relief. For the purpose of understanding the nature of the relief they have prayed for and the legal consequences thereof, it is necessary to refer to a few facts. The Madras Financiers and Pawn-Brokers Association, and one K. Hansraj filed two writ petitions, W.P. Nos. 2611 and 2612 of 1970 on the file of this Court. In these writ petitions, they prayed for the issue of writs of mandamus restraining the respondents, namely, the Union of India represented by the Secretary to Government, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi and the Collector of Central Excise, Madras-34 from proceeding with the enforcement of Gold Control Trade Notices 6 and 7 of 1970 dated 18th June, 1970 and 27th July, 1970 respectively said to have been issued by the Collector of Central Excise, Madras. Those two writ petitions were filed obviosly on the basis that to the pawn-brokers the provisions contained in the Gold Control Act, 1968 did not apply.When the two writ petitions came up for hearing before Palaniswamy, J., the learned Judge observed ;

“In these two cases, the petitioners question the applicabilit

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