1. The Corporation of the City of Bangalore (hereinafter referred to as the Corporation) who is the contesting respondent in all these petitions, issued a notification as per Exhibit A dated 4-4-1967, in which it was stated that the Administrator of the Corporation, exercising the powers of the Standing Committee (Taxation and Finance) and the Corporation and in exercise of the powers under S.130 of the City of Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act, had decided that the Articles noted in the Schedule of the notification should be subjected to levy of octroi at the rates noted against each with effect from the 1st day of May, 1967, the said articles being included under Clause VIII, Part V, Schedule III of the City of Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act, 1949. In the Schedule of that Notification, 48 items of goods, together with the rates of octroi imposed on them, have been specified. The petitioners in these writ petitions are all dealers in one or more of the articles specified in that schedule. In these writ petitions, they have challenged the validity of the levy of Octroi and have prayed that the Corporation be restrained from collecting Octroi under the said notification.
The main contention of the petitioners is that the procedure prescribed by S.98(1) of the City of Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act 1949 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) has not been followed, that the levy of Octroi under the notification as per Exhibit A has not the authority of law and that any collection under such a notification would be illegal. In the counter - affidavit which has been filed on behalf of the Corporation (vide the counter) in W. P. 994 of 1967, the stand taken by respondents 1 and 2 (namely, the Administrator and the Corporation) is stated as follows at para 2 : -
"(2) Respondents 1 and 2 do not propose to file any counter as the point raised is a pure question of law. It will be the contention of respondents 1 and 2 that the levy is legal even though the procedure prescribed in S.98 is not followed with respect to the goods covered under the Notification dated 4-4-1967."

2. Before proceeding to examine the merits of the rival stands taken by the contesting parties in these writ petitions, it would be advantageous to set out the material portions of Exhibit A and the relevant provisions of the Act.
Exhibit A : -
"Corporation of the City of Bangalore
Office of the Commissioner
Corporation Offices,
Bangalore, Dated 4-4-1967,
NOTICE
Whereas the levy of the octroi on animals and the goods brought within the Octroi Limits of the Corporation has been determined by the resolutions dated 26th September, 1950 of the Corporation and whereas it is necessary to extend the levy of octroi on some more goods for augmenting the resources of the Corporation and also bring in under Octroi, goods which are similar to the goods that have already been subjected to octroi, the Administrator of the Corporation of the City of Bangalore, exercising the powers of the Standing Committee (Taxation and Finance) and Corporation under S. 47 (A) of the City of Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act 1950 as amended from time to time and in exercise of the powers under S.130 of the said Act, has decided that the articles noted hereunder should be subjected to levy of Octroi at the rates noted against each with effect from the 1st day of May 1967, the said articles being included under Clause VIII, Part V, Schedule III of the City of Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act, 1949.
SCHEDULE
Sl. No. Particulars of Items Tax of Octroi to be levied 
 
1 xxxx xxxx xxxx 
 xxxx xxxx xxxx 
 xxxx xxxx xxxx 
 xxxx xxxx xxxx 
48 xxxx xxxx xxxx 
K. S. N. Murthy Commissioner Corporation of Bangalore, Bangalore"
S.98(1) of the Act reads as follows : -
"98(1) Before the Corporation passes any resolution imposing a tax or duty for the first time it shall direct the Commissioner to publish a notice in the official Gazette and in the local newspapers of its intention and fix a reasonable period not bei