2015 (8) TMI 945

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....gned Judgment had not been stayed. 2. The facts that are relevant for deciding the present Appeal, succinctly, are that the Respondent State had fixed the price of rectified spirit uniformly at Rs. 6/- per litre by Government Order dated 12.5.1992. While doing so, it had been indicated that the captive distilleries would be entitled to receive only Rs. 5/- per litre, and the balance Rs. 1/- per litre would be receivable by the Respondent State. For the period of 1.7.1992 to 30.6.1993, supplies of rectified spirit were made by the Appellant to various parties and the entire sum at the rate of Rs. 6/- per litre was recovered/received by the Appellant. It will be relevant to underscore that the supply of rectified spirit (ethyl alcohol) was....

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....egation of legislative function cannot be stretched so as to make it notional. It cannot be said that the limitation on the delegation of legislative function has reached a vanishing point. Limitation is needed to prevent any possible dictatorial power being vested in the executive by the legislature. Rule 17 insofar as it empowers of the fixation of price of rectified spirit, is therefore, declared as unconstitutional and ultra vires the provisions of the State Act. 4. The manner in which the trade of arrack is conducted can be gleaned, inter alia, from a reading of Rule 13, which is also reproduced for convenience: Rule 13. Stock of rectified spirit. - (1) The quantity of rectified spirit required for the warehouse shall be allotted....

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....tion may permit the transfer after gauging the stock in volume and strength. A perusal of the said Rule makes it patently clear that the Commissioner allots quantities of rectified spirit from the distillery to a 'warehouse', and the indents are duly counter signed by the Warehouse Officer. The Rule clarifies that the transportation charges are to be borne by the licencee. This arrangement, so far as transportation expenses are concerned, obviously does not arise where molasses is readily available in the very same premises where its conversion or distillation into rectified spirit takes place. The contention of learned counsel for the Appellant is that the State is not entitled to take away the extra profit of Rs. 1/- per litre which th....

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.... for the Appellant has endeavoured to place reliance on the decision in Pratima Chowdhury v. Kalpana Mukherjee (2014) 4 SCC 196, in order to buttress the argument that estoppel cannot be claimed by the Respondent State; we are unable to appreciate the reliance on this decision in support of this contention. What we have before us is a simple case of recovery of dues, viz. at rates which had been declared well before the permission to supply rectified spirit was accorded to the Appellant. The position may have been different had the Respondent State failed to pass relevant orders or had it failed to inform the Appellant that, since it did not incur transportation costs, this amount, which had been predetermined at Rs. 1/- per litre, would be....