PRACHI LEATHER LTD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We have heard both the sides.

(2.) The earlier exemption from Excise Duty was granted by a notification to a particular class of small manufacturers of shoes and of vegetable oil. Subsequently the exemption has been restricted to a still smaller section of that class, and now it has been confined to industries of a smaller size.

(3.) This reduction has been challenged by the petitioners in all these writ petitions which have been heard together. The challenge is basically on the ground of arbitrariness.