Official Gazette publication controls effectiveness of excise withdrawal notification; duty collected before due publication was refundable.

A subordinate excise exemption notification issued under delegated legislation becomes operative only on due publication in the Official Gazette, not merely on the date printed on the notification. The Madras HC stated that where a fiscal notification of general application is required to be published, it must be made available to the public before it takes effect. On the facts, the withdrawal notification was placed on sale after its stated date, so the earlier exemption continued until effective publication. Duty collected for the intervening period was therefore without authority of law and refundable, and certiorari against the departmental rejection was maintainable on that basis.

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Issues: Whether the withdrawal of exemption from excise duty under the impugned notification took effect on the date borne by the notification or only when the Gazette containing it was made available to the public, and whether duty collected for the earlier period was refundable.

Analysis: The exemption and its withdrawal were made under rule 8(1) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, by notification in the Official Gazette. The Court held that in the case of delegated legislation of general application, mere printing of the Gazette is not enough unless the notification is duly published so as to make it known to the public. On the facts, the Gazette containing the withdrawal notification was placed on sale only on 8 December 1982, though the notification was dated 30 November 1982. The petitioner was therefore entitled to treat the earlier exemption as continuing until the notification became effective by due publication. As the duty collected for the earlier period was recovered without authority of law, the Court also held that the respondents were bound to refund the amount, and the writ of certiorari against the departmental order rejecting the petitioner's stand was also maintainable on the same legal basis.

Conclusion: The withdrawal notification was effective only from 7 December 1982 so far as the petitioner was concerned, and the duty collected for the prior period was liable to be refunded.

Ratio Decidendi: A subordinate fiscal notification requiring publication in the Official Gazette becomes effective only when it is duly published so as to be made available to the public, and duty collected before such due notification is without authority of law.

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