BHARAT RABI OIL MILLS Vs. INSPECTOR CENTRAL EXCISE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) UNDER the Essential Commodities Act, 1965, the expression 'essential commodity' means, amongst other commodities, 'food-stuffs, including edible oil seeds and oils'. That mustard oil is edible oil admits of little doubt. The question for my consideration in this Rule is whether mustard oil also falls within the classification of 'vegetable non-essential oils' as in the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944. The circumstances in which this Rule was obtained are hereinafter stated in brief. The petitioners Nos. 2 and 3 carry on business in co-partnership under the name and style of Bharat Rabi Oil Mill (petitioner No. 1 ). In the said business the petitioners produce mustard oil from mustard seeds with the aid of power driven machine. Up to the year 1956, there was no attempt to impose central excise duty on mustard oil. The Finance Act, 1956, amended the Central Excises and Salt Act, 2944 and added the following item as item 23 in the First Schedule of the latter Act:

(2.) THE petitioners complied with the directions contained in the letter quoted above. Thereafter, on March 3, 1956, the petitioners applied for grant of a license to manufacture goods liable to central duty of excise and, on March 24, 1956, were granted a license in form L.-4 authorising the petitioners to manufacture "vegetable non-essential oil" during the year ending Dec. 31, 1956, within the declared manufactory of the petitioners. The petitioners obtained renewal of the said license during the years 1957 to 1962. The petitioners also paid the excise duty and continued to pay the same for a considerable time. The last of such payments was made by a Challan dated July 24, 1962 (annexure 'f' to the petition ). Since about the year 1062, a trade association, known as Mustard Oil Dealers' Association of Bengal, of Which the petitioners claim membership, raked up the lurking doubt that mustard oil should not be made chargeable to central excise duty on the theory that the same was not vegetable nonessential oil and began protesting against imposition and collection of such duty on mustard oil. The protests were turned down, because the respondent Collector was clearly of the opinion that mustard oil fell under the category of vegetable non-essential oil, within the meaning of section 3 read with item 12 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act and was chargeable to duty as such.

(3.) AGGRIEVED by the attitude taken up by the authorities, the petitioners moved this Court, under Article 226 of the Constitution, for a mandate upon the respondents directing them not to levy duty on the mustard oil and not to prevent the petitioners from removing mustard oil produced by the petitioners without previous payment of duty and obtained this Rule, on August 7, 1962. For reasons with which I am not concerned in this Rule, the respondents exempted mustard oil from the operation of item 12 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act with effect from March 1, 1963. The position now is that the petitioners' have get all that they aspired to have by winning a victory in this Rule, even without the intervention of this Court. Even then Mr. Jitendra Kumar Sen Gupta, learned Advocate for the petitioners invited a judgment from this Court on the points raised by him, on the ground that the petitioners had to deposit considerable amount of money in terms of an injunction granted by this Court and the refund of that amount would depend upon the judgment to be delivered by this Court, I have, therefore, decided to consider the arguments advanced by Mr. Sen Gupta in support of this Rule, mr. Sen Gupta, learned Advocate for the petitioners, argued three points in support of the Rule. He argued, in the first place, that mustard oil was not a non-essential oil but a highly essential cooking medium in many parts of India ; as such, he contended, mustard oil must not be deemed to fail under the category of vegetable nonessential oil. He argued, in the next. place, that the expression 'vegetable non-essential oil' was vague and indefinite and was incapable of being made specifically applicable to mustard oil, without more He lastly contended that in interpreting a taxing statute a Court must be guided by the language used in the statute and if the language of the statute was doubtful the benefit of the doubt must go to the assesses. The arguments advanced by Mr. Sen Gupta are interesting arguments and deserve consideration. The word 'essential' has two distinct meanings in English language. Used as descriptive of the physical or chemical properties of a thing the word means "relating to, constituting, or containing the essence". Used as descriptive of user of a thing, the word means "indispensable or important in the highest degree" (see Chambers Dictionary ). The words "essential oil" appear to be a well-known expression in chemical technology. In Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Volume 9 "essential Oil" is described as : 'the ethereal, volatile, or essential oil-so called because they were believed to represent the quint essence of the odour and flavour of the botanical-differ in composition and properties from fatty or fixed oils, which consist for the must part of glycerides and from mineral or hydrocarbon oils 'an absolutely scientific definition of the term essential or volatile oils is hardly possible, but for all practical purposes they may be defined as odoriferous bodies of an oily nature obtained almost exclusively from vegetable sources, generally liquid (something semisolid or solid) at ordinary temperatures, and volatile without decomposition. No more restricted definition is either advantageous or possible". (page 569 ). From mustard seeds both volatile or essential oil and non-volatile or fixed or fatty oil may be produced. This appears from the book called The Wealth of India (published by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. India- 1948) : "the genus Brassica consists of over 150 species of animal or bienial herbs, several of which are cultivated as oil-seed crops (rape and mustard) or as veetable crops (cabbage, cauliflower ). The seeds of some yield the condiment, mustard A few brassicas furnish fodder and green manure.