HARYANA DISTILLERY YAMUNANAGAR AND THE PANIPAT CO-OPERATIVE SUGAR MILLS LTD. Vs. THE STATE GOVERNMENT OF HARYANA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall dispose of Civil Writ Petition Nos. 520 and 922 of 1987, wherein the challenge is to the imposition of the excise duty by the authorities under the Punjab Excise Act, 1914 (for short 'the Act'), on the excess wastage of Double Distilled Sprit (hereinafter for short referred to as 'DDS'). The petitioner has also challenged the legality of Rule 101 -A of the Punjab Distillery Rules, 1932 (for short 'the Rules'), fixing scale of wastage allowance for spirit.

(2.) THE petitioner is licencee for distillery under Section 21 of the Act. Such licence is being renewed on yearly basis. It is asserted that as per the statutory provisions, all the processes such as maturation of the spirit; rectification; flavouring, colouring and bottling etc. are performed in the distillery enclosure itself under the control and supervision of the officials of the excise department of the State Government. During this process, wastage of spirit also takes place in the distillery at various stages of manufacture. The extent of wastage is dependent upon the process of manufacture and storage. It varies from plant to plant and from time to time.

(3.) BEFORE considering the arguments raised by the counsel for the parties, some of the statutory provisions of the Act, Rules and Punjab Excise Manual, which are relevant, need to be extracted: