(1.) In both these writ petitions, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution, the vires of S.49A of the Banking Companies Act, 1949 are challenged. S.49A which was added to the original Act by the Banking Companies (Amendment) Ac; 1959 -- Act 33/1959 is as follows:
(2.) The petitioner in O. P. 1371/59 claims to be an individual, doing banking business, by receiving deposits from the public for the Purpose of lending to others and that the deposit is repayable by cheque or otherwise. The petitioner therein claims to have been doing this business from 1952.
(3.) The petitioner further alleges that by virtue of S.49A of the Banking Companies Act 1949 -- Act 10/1949, all persons, other than a banking company, the Reserve Bank, the State Bank of India and any other banking institution notified by the Central Government, have been prohibited from accepting, from the public, deposits of money withdrawable by cheque, and it is also alleged that S.49A of the Act is ultra vires and void.