1975 (1) TMI 32

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... ners to pay excise duty on the finished goods failing under sub-item (ia) of item No. 26AA of the First Schedule to the Excises and Salt Act. There is also a prayer for the issue of a writ of prohibition, order or direction in the nature of prohibition to direct the respondent, namely, the Union of India the Collector, Central Excise, Kanpur, the Assistant Collector, Central Excise, Meerut, and the Superintendent, Central Excise, M.O.R. Meerut, not to recover, any Excise Duty on the above mentioned goods manufactured by the petitioner. 2. The facts of the case are not in dispute. Both the petitioners manufacture roll bars after cutting or breaking ingots received from Mini Steel Plants electric arc furnace units on which appropriate amount .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... imposition of the excise duty is supported on two grounds taken in the alternative. Firstly, that the exemption applies to only ingots received from large steel plants which have to be cut both horizontally and vertically make them resemble the shape of any of the products referred to in sub-item (ia) and does not apply to ingots received from Mini Steel Plants which already resemble that shape and have merely to be cut or broken. In the alternative, it is pleaded that the exemption could apply to the cut or broken pieces of ingots only if received from the suppliers, namely, Mini Steel Plants and not when they are cut or broken by the petitioners themselves. None of these contentions have any force. 5. The notification, referred to above .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... ants, and the recovery of the excise duty on iron or steel products falling under sub-item (ia) of Item No. 26AA of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, which had been made from ingots on which the appropriate amount of excise duty had already been paid, was against the law. 8. In the end, it was contended by the learned Senior Standing Counsel appearing for the respondents that the petitioners had an alternative remedy by way of appeal to the departmental authorities and, therefore, on this ground these writ petitions were liable to be dismissed. It is a settled law that the imposition of tax or excise duty can be challenged directly before the High Court in a proceeding under Article 226 of the Constitution where the i .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X