Govinda Menon, J.-All these three appeals raise the same question of law, though the respondents are different. The suits were filed by the respondents-plaintiffs against the State of Madras alleging that sales-tax was illegally levied against them and excessive amounts were collected from them as sales tax. Various defences were raised in the trial Court of which one was that the Civil Court has no jurisdiction to entertain the suits. The District Munsif found in favour of the defendant and dismissed all the suits. On appeal, the learned Subordinate Judge came to a contrary conclusion and remanded the suits for disposal on merits. Hence these appeals.

The only question is whether the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939, with its subsequent amendments has ousted the jurisdiction of the ordinary Civil Courts when a party is alleged to have been aggrieved by the administration of the Act. For this purpose it is necessary to refer to the relevant portions of the Act of which sections 11 and 12 are the most important. The earlier sections deal with the levy of sales tax on various commodities and the method of levying the same. Section 11 lays down that an assessee objecting to an assess

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