POONA BOTTELING COMPANY LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will also dispose of Civil Writ Petitions Nos. 387 of 1980 (Mfs. Indore Bottimg Co. & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.) 6 of 1979 (M[s. Tripty Drinks Pvt. Ltd., Jagatpur CUttack v. Union of India & Ors.), 82 of 1979 (Varanasi Bottling Co. Dahria, Varanasi v. Union of India and Ors). 83, of 1979 (Varanasi Bottling Co., Dahria, Varanasi v. Union of India and Ors.) 195180 (M\s. Amritsar Bottling Co., Amritsar v. Union of India and others), 197 of 1980 (M\s. Chandigarh Bottling Company, Chandigarh v. Union of India and others) and 565 of 1980 (Agra Beverages Corpn. Ltd.; Delhi and another v. Union of India and Ors.), as the questions of law and facts involved are common in all these cases. We will notice the facts of the present case (C.W. 916178) and need not give the facts of the other petitions because the facts are almost similar.

(2.) Messrs Poona Bottling Co. Ltd., petitioner No. I in this petition (C.W. No. 916 of 1978) is a public limited company carrying on, inter alia, the business of manufacturing and bottling of soft drints, i.e. Gold Spot, Limca, ThumsUp, etc. Nons of its shares was held directly or indirectly by messrs Parie (Exports) Pvt. Ltd. (for short 'M\s. Parie') Petitioner No. 2, Ramesh Kumar More, is the Executive Director of petitioner No. I Company. The factory of petitioner No. I is duly registered under the Factories Registration Act 1948. The petitioner company has also obtained Central Excise Licence under the Central Excise and Salt Act. For the purpose of manufacturing the said soft drinks the petitioner company has installed a bottling plant by an alleged investment of about Rs. 40 lacs. For manufacturing the soft drinks, it has to purchase numerous articles such as bottles, crown corks, sugar, citric acid etc. Besides these, it purchases essences from M\s. Parie under frenchise agreements dated July 25, 1977 and February 27, 1978(Armexure 'A' collectively). The relevant terms of July 25, 1977 agreem'ent read as under: 2. The Company hereby permits and authorises the

(3.) The Bottler agrees to deposit with the Company a sum of Indian Rs. 100,000 (Rupees One lac only) or any higher amount in accordance with the Territory of the Bottler on signing of the Franchise Agreement.