R. K. PATRA, J.

( 1 ) BY the aforesaid twin petitions under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners challenge the constitutional validity of S. 7-B of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') on the ground that it is hit by Art. 14 of the Constitution. In the first petition, i. e. , O. J. C. No. 2608 of 1993, the petitioner seeks the quashing of the award made by the arbitrator under Annexure 7. Although similar prayer has been made in O. J. C. No. 6879 of 1995 to quash the award, the same has not been appended to the writ petition. As identical and similar points were raised in both the petitions, they were heard together and are disposed of by this judgment.

( 2 ) THE facts in O. J. C. No. 2108 of 1993 are briefly indicated. The petitioner is a practising advocate at Cuttack and is a subscriber of Telephone No. 22537 Ck. Following the disputes raised by him over the bills submitted by the department in respect of the telephone in question, this Court in O. J. C. No. 1402 of 1991 by order dated 10-4-1992 required the Union of India to appoint an arbitrator to decide the disputes under S. 7-B of the Act. The arbitrator gave his