DES RAJ CHIRANJI LAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner-firm, which is registered as a Small-Scale Reroller with the Iron and Steel Controller, Ministry of Steel, Government of India, Calcutta, manufactures products like rods, bars, flats etc. , from old and rerollable scrap, semi-finished steel and ingots manufactured with the aid of electric furnaces by Mini-Steel Plants set up by the private enterprises. Prior to 1-3-1973, no excise duty was leviable on ingots, whether manufactured in the Main Steel Plants like Tata Iron and Steel, Rourkela, Bhillai or Durgapur Steel Plants or by Mini-Steel Plants with the aid of electric furnaces. However, product-duty on flats manufactured from ingots coming from either source was levied as under : (i) Flats exceeding 5 mm but not exceeding 10 mm. Rs. 75/- per metric tonne. (ii) Flats exceeding 10 mm in thickness. Rs. 65/- per metric tonne. In addition to the above amount, regulatory excise duty at the rate of 50 per cent of the above said duty was levied.

(2.) ON 1-3-1973, respondent No. 1, that is, Union of India, issued notification No. 65/73 (Annexure 'a' to the writ petition) under Sub-rule (1) of Rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, hereinafter referred to as the Rules, providing that the Steel ingots manufactured with the aid of electric furnace from specified material were to be exempt from payment of duty in excess of Rs. 50/- per metric tonne. The exemption in the case of ingots manufactured by the main producers from payment of duty was in excess of Rs. 100/- per metric tonne, that is, if a Mini-Steel Plant was to pay Rs. 50/-as excise duty on ingots produced by it, the main producers of ingots, that is, Main Steel Plants, were to pay such duty at Rs. 100/- per metric tonne on ingots produced by them.

(3.) ON the same date viz. 1-3-1973, another notification No. 67/73 (Annexure 'b' to the writ petition) was promulgated by the Union of India, respondent No. 1, in which it was provided that the given products made from steel ingots, on which duty at the appropriate rate had already been paid, were to bear excise duty at the rate of Rs. 65/- per metric tonne irrespective of the fact whether ingots used for producing such products were produced by the main producers or the Mini-Steel Plants with the aid of electric furnaces.