AMRIT BANASPATI CO LTD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order of ours shall dispose of Civil Writ petitions Nos. 11654, 11655, 11656, 11657, 12309, 12310, 12579, 12664 and 13056 of 1989. Since the material facts are common and so are questions of law raised in these petitions, it can be fairly recorded that the petitions raise common questions of law.

(2.) IT is expedient to collate the facts leading up to these Writ petitions. The facts have been taken from Civil Writ petition No. 11654 of 1989. Vanaspati is an excisable item. The petitioners are its manufacturers. It can be manufactured by hydrogenation of vegetable oils and subjecting them to various other processes like neutralising, bleaching and deodorisation etc, The oils used in this process are known as traditional oils in the trade and it is so understood by the persons in the trade. The manufacturer of Vanaspati can also use for its manufacture the minor oils like Rice Bran Oil, Mahua oil, Water-melon seed Oil, Solvent extracted cottonseed Oil etc. They are known as non-traditional oils in the trade amongst the manufacturers and the persons dealing with Vanaspati. Utilising the non traditional oils for the manufacture of Vanaspati is a time consuming and costlier process, than its manufacture by hydrogenation of traditional oils.

(3.) THE Union of India with an object to cut the import of excisable oils, to save foreign exchange, to encourage the utilisation, or consumption of indigenoulsy available non-traditional oils and to make it feasible as well as financially viable for the manufacture of Vanaspati and further to allure the manufacturers of Vanaspati to utilise the same for its manufacture, and with a further object of granting incentive for the greater production of non-traditional oils in the country, granted various concessions from excise duty and also in other excisable goods. The Central Government introduced a scheme granting concession from excise duty on the use of the non-traditional oils in the manufacture of Vanaspati and other excisable articles. The scheme proposing the excise concession on the Vanaspati and other articles for the use of various non-traditional oils, was issued on March 1, 1987 and the items were specified.