ORDER

1. The appeals and the writ petitions raise a common question of law relating to the validity of a circular dated 29-1-1993 issued by the 1st respondents Commissioner, of Commercial Taxes. It needs to be reproduced in extenso :

"In the reference first cited, it was clarified that since the first sales of ferrous scrap by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board are exempt from tax, no tax is leviable on the subsequent local sales of the scraps purchased from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. This clarification was reiterated in the references second and third cited in individual cases. These clarifications were issued on the basis of TA No. 240 of 1986 dated 30-9-1988 in the case of India Metal Industries v. State of T. N. But the High Court, Madras in the case of Vasu General Traders v. State of T. N. ((1987) 66 STC 358) held that since the exemption in relation to a particular sale would not be available to other subsequent sales, the taxing statutes had to operate in respect of other sales. The Government decided that the decision rendered by the High Court in the case of Vasu General Traders ((1987) 66 STC 358) can be restricted only to that case and need not be treated as a gene