1. This judgment will dispose of Civil Writs Nos. 968, 969, 4894 and 4895 of 1975. All the petitioners are residing in house No. 355, sector 9-D, Chandigarh, along with Shri Mulkh Raj Mahajan, advocate, Chandigarh. The petitioners in Civil Writs Nos. 4894 and 4895 of 1975 are the sons of Shri Mulkh Raj Mahajan and the petitioners in Civil Writs Nos. 968 and 969 of 1975 are the daughters-in-law of Shri Mulkh Raj Mahajan, advocate, Chandigarh.

2. The house of the latter was searched under a warrant of authorisation issued by the Commissioner of Income-tax, respondent No. 1, in exercise of the powers under Section 132 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), on October 17, 1974. When the authorised officer wanted to search the premises of the petitioners they raided objections that the same could not be searched in the absence of relevant authorisations by the Commissioner of Income-tax. It is alleged that on receipt of these objections the authorised officer rang up Shri J. S. Dulat, the Inspecting Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax, who sent a warrant authorising the search of the premises occupied by Shri Manmohan Krishan Mahajan, petitioner in