G T N TEXTILES LIMITED SHREE MANUFACTURING CO KAKATIA TEXTILES LIMITED SATYAM SPNG AND WVG MILLS LIMITED YEMMIGANUR SPNG MILLS DHANALAKSHMI ROTO SPINNERS PRIVATE LIMITED SATHYANARAYANA SPINNING MILLS LIMITED Vs. ASSISTANT DIRECTORS R O T COMMISSIONER:ASSTT DIR REG OFFICE OF TEX COMMISSIONER:ASSTT DIRECTOR AND ENFORCEMENT OFFICER:A D AND E O REG OFFICE TEXTILES COMMISSIONER:TEXTILE COMMISSIONER AND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Special leave granted in all the petitions.

(2.) The appellants-petitioners challenged the constitutional validity of Cl. 16 of the Textile (Control) Order, 1986 (the 1986 Order) and the notification, issued thereunder, dated March 29, 1990 as amended on May 11, 1990 and May 17, 1990 (the notification) by the Textile Commissioner, before the Andhra Pradesh High Court by way of writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The High Court by its judgment dated October 29, 1991 dismissed the writ petitions. These appeals by way of special leave are against the judgment of the High Court.

(3.) The appellants are the Spinning and Weaving Mills in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The cotton yarn manufactured by the mills is of different varieties. It is classified on the basis of counts. Yarn with 1 to 40 counts is coarse, 40 to 60 medium, between 60 and 100 fine and anything above 100 counts is described as very fine. There are two methods of packing the yarn. One is the cone form packing which is used in power-loom and hosiery industry. The other is hank form packing which is exclusively consumed by the handloom industry. Spinning and packing are the two stages of manufacturing yarn. Raw-cotton has to pass through the process of blow-room, carding, drawing, simplex and finally the ring frame to complete the process of spinning. The process of packing starts thereafter. For the cone form packing the ring frame cops are fed to the winding machines and for the hank form packing the cops are fed to the reeling machines. According to the appellants they are packing the yarn in cone form. They have not installed the reeling machines and as such it is not possible for them to pack the yarn in hank form.