JUDGMENT

VENKATARAMIAH, J.:— The majority of petitioners in these petitions filed under Art. 32 of the Constitution are certain companies, their shareholders and their employees engaged in the business of editing, printing and publishing newspapers, periodicals, magazines etc. Some of them are trust or other kinds of establishments carrying on the same kind of business. They consume in the course of their activity large quantities of newsprint and it is stated that 60 of the expenditure involved in the production of a newspaper is utilised for buying newsprint, a substantial part of which is imported from abroad. They challenge in these petitions the validity of the imposition of import. duty on newsprint imported from abroad under S. 12 of the Customs Act, 1962 (Act 52 of 1962) read with S. 2 and Heading No. 48.01/21 Subheading No. (2) in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (Act 51 of 1975) and the levy of auxiliary duty under the Finance Act, 1981 on newsprint as modified by notifications issued under S. 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 with effect from March 1, 1981.

2. The first set of writ petitions challenging the above levy was filed in May, 1981. At that time unde