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1986 (4) TMI 339 - SC - Central ExciseLicense ob bottling of liquor - Held that:- The necessity for obtaining licences under the Bottling of Liquor Rules by the persons to whom the bottling contracts had been awarded was also realised by the Government and it was for that reason that Rule 3 came to be amended. We are unable to understand how despite the prohibition contained in s.13(1)(e) anyone can engage himself in the business of bottling liquor without obtaining a licence under the Rules. It is true that s.13(1)(e) uses the expression 'bottling liquor for sale' and the expression 'to bottle' is itself defined to mean 'the transfer of liquor from a cask or other vessle to a bottle for the purpose of sale'. But there is no justification for the implication sought to be read into section 13(1)(e) read with the definition of 'to bottle' that only a bottler who himself sells the liquor bottled by him is subject to and governed by s.13(1)(e) and the Rules and not a bottler who merely bottles liquor for others. Bottling liquor for sale may be for selling the liquor by the bottler himself or by someone else for whom the bottling has been done by the bottler. In either case it is bottling liquor for sale. ALL that is necessary is that the liquor must be meant for sale. It may be that occasionally liquor may be bottled not for sale but for private consumption. Manufacture of liquor for private or domestic consumption may be permitted under the Excise Laws and where so permitted, the liquor may be bottled without obtaining a separate bottling licence but where the liquor which is bottled is intended to be sold whether by the bottler or by someone else at whose instance the bottling is done, the bottler must necessarily have a bottling licence without which he cannot engage himself in the business of bottling liquor meant for sale. Bottling of liquor meant for sale by whosoever is without doubt regulated by the Bottling of Liquor Rules. Though considerable argument appears to have been advanced before the High Court on the question of locus standi, the question was rightly not raised before us. Appeal dismissed.
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