We proceed first to state the facts which have led to these four appeals. The 1910 Act and the 1948 Act were extended to the State of Mysore on April 1, 1951, by the Part B States (Laws) Act, 1951 (III of 1951 ). But the sections of the two Acts did not come into force in the State of Mysore all at once. Some sections of the 1948 Act came into force at once, and some came into force on later dates. It is suffici· ent for our purpose to know thats. 76 of the 1948 Act came into force in Mysore on December 30, 1956; and s. 5 thereof came into force on September 30, 1957. The Board was constituted under s. 5 by a Government notification dated September 27, 1957, to come into effect from September 30, 1957. Prior to the constitution of the Board. the Government of Mysore was generating electric energy and supplying it to consumers of both high tention and low tension power. On different dates in the year 1945, written agreements were entered into between the Govern· ment of Mysore and the four textile mills for the supply of electric energy to these textile mills at the rate of 0. 55, of an anna per unit of day power and 0. 35 of an anna per unit of night power, subject to the payment of certain monthly minimum charges. These agreements were for a period of five years and expired on different dates in 1949-50. By an order dated March 23, 1953, the Government of Mysore revised the rates for the supply of electric energy and increased the same to 0. 65 of an anna per unit of day power and O. 45 of an anna: per unit of night power. Subsequently, an expert committee, under the Chairmanship of Prof. M. S. Thacker, the then Director of the Institute of Science, Bangalore, was appointed to go into the question of rationalisation of the rates for power supply in the State of Mysore.
