TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1991 (9) TMI 164
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....al and null and void. He prohibited the respondents, that is to say, the Union of India and the Excise authorities, from acting upon the said proviso and directed them to refund to the petitioners the amount of excise duty collected from the petitioners on the basis of the said proviso. The learned Judge accepted the argument on behalf of the petitioners that, by virtue of the said proviso, the Union Government had created two classes, namely, a class of manufacturers who had paid higher excise duty on the raw material and a class of manufacturers who had paid less excise duty on the raw material. As a result of the classification, a manufacturer who had paid higher excise duty on the raw material had to pay higher excise duty on the finish....
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.... (a)(ii Castings not otherwise specified. Twenty six per cent ad valorem. 6. (aa) Waste and scrap. Twenty per cent ad valorem. 7. (b) Manufactures, namely, plates, sheets, circles (other than circles having thickness of and above 0.56 mm but not above 2.0 mm) strips, shapes and sections in any form or size, not otherwise specified. Twenty six per cent ad valorem. 8. (b) Circles having thickness of and above 0.56 mm but not above 2.00 mm. Fifteen per cent ad valorem. 9. (c) Foils. Twenty five per cent ad valorem. 10. (d) Pipes and tubes other than extruded pipes and tubes, Twenty six percent ad valorem. 11. (e) Extruded shapes and sections including extruded ....
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....rror in striking down the said proviso so as to widen the scope of the exemption. 5. It was submitted by Mr. Ganesh, learned Counsel for the petitioners, that the said proviso was "thoroughly arbitrary" and brought about discrimination between manufacturers similarly situated; the said proviso was severable; the said exemption notification was workable and rational without the said proviso; and that judicial decisions showed that the benefit of an exemption notification could be expanded by judicial orders. Mr. Ganesh added that the classification made by the said proviso was based on the rate of excise duty at which the raw material was acquired. Where there was higher excise duty on the raw material there was higher excise duty also on....
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....n (3) of the Table, the end-products are entitled to the exemption stated in the said exemption notification only provided that the inputs have borne excise duty at the rates stated in the said exemption notification and the excise authorities are so satisfied. 7. What it comes to, therefore, is that all manufacturers of aluminium products are required to pay excise duty upon the finished products specified against the aforestated serial numbers of the Table at the unexempted rate if the same are made from aluminium inputs purchased prior to the date of the said exemption notification, and all manufacturers are entitled to the benefit of the said exemption notification if they have manufactured these finished products from inputs purchas....