TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1993 (4) TMI 66
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....W.P. (C) No. 899, W.P. (C) No. 936, W.P. (C) No. 964, W.P. (C) No. 985, W.P. (C) No. 966, W.P. (C) No. 967, W.P. (C) No. 861, W.P. (C) No. 863, W.P. (C) No. 864, W.P. (C) No. 865, W.P. (C) No. 824, W.P. (C) No. 1661, W.P. (C) No. 1597, W.P. (C) No. 1595, W.P. (C) No. 1568, W.P. (C) No. 1423, W.P. (C) No. 749, W.P. (C) No. 780, W.P. (C) No. 779, W.P. (C) No. 778, W.P. (C) No. 776, W.P. (C) No. 987, W.P. (C) No. 883, W.P. (C) No. 798, W.P. (C) No. 795, W.P. (C) No. 1421, W.P. (C) No. 512, W.P. (C) No. 1422, W.P. (C) No. 783, W.P. (C) No. 1334, W.P. (C) No. 1330, W.P. (C) No. 992, W.P. (C) No. 1167, W.P. (C) No. 827, W.P. (C) No. 1030, W.P. (C) No. 998, W.P. (C) No. 963, W.P. (C) No. 862, W.P. (C) No. 1009, W.P. (C) No. 777, W.P. (C) No. 916, W.P. (C) No. 900, W.P. (C) No. 819, W.P. (C) No. 997, W.P. (C) No. 1165, W.P. (C) No. 1107, W.P. (C) No. 918, W.P. (C) No. 1110, W.P. (C) No. 1226 of 1987, W.P. (C) No. 4, W.P. (C) No. 332, W.P. (C) No. 147, W.P. (C) No. 3, W.P. (C) No. 2, W.P. (C) No. 914, W.P. (C) No. 171, W.P. (C) No. 170, W.P. (C) No. 642, W.P. (C) No. 5 of 1988, W.P. (C) No. 280, W.P. (C) No. 164, W.P. (C) No. 271, W.P. (C) No. 724, W.P. (C) No. 71, W.P. (C) No. 31, W.P. (C)....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... Official Gazette". Sub-section (2) of Section 3 clarified that the duty of excise levied under sub-section (1) of Section 3 shall be in addition to the duty of excise leviable on vegetable oils under the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 or any other law for the time being in force. Sub-section (3) stated that the duty of excise levied under Section 3(1) shall be payable by the occupier of the mill in which the vegetable oil is produced. Sub-section (4) provided that the provisions of the Central Excise Act and the Rules made thereunder including those relating to refunds and exemptions from duty, "shall so far may be, apply in relation to the levy and collection of the said duty of excise as they apply in relation to the levy and collection of the duty of excise on vegetable oils under that Act". Section 4 provided that the proceeds of the duty of excise levied under Section 3(1) shall first be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India. Subject to appropriation made by law by the Parliament, the Central Government could pay to the Board from time to time such amounts from out of the said collections as it thought fit for being utilised for the purposes of the Board. Section 7 a....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....en repealed. In the face of this provision, it would appear that the petitioners' dispute as to their liability to pay the said cess for the period March 1,1986 to March 31,1987 is of little avail. The petitioners, however, rely upon certain circumstances/grounds in support of their contention which we may now deal with. 7. The petitioners are manufacturers of vegetable oil, which was subject to the cess/duty of excise under Section 3 of the Cess Act. They rely upon the following circumstances and grounds in support of their plea : (1) In his Budget Speech delivered on 28-2-1986, presenting the Budget 1986-87, the Union Minister of Finance stated : "the long term Fiscal Policy recognises that cesses levied as excise duties contribute to the multiplicity of taxes. As an endeavour to reduce the number of these cesses, it has been decided to dispense with the cess on cotton, copra and vegetable oils. The Ministry of Agriculture will take appropriate action in the matter. The loss to the exchequer on this account will be Rs. 5.90 crores" The Budget proposals also specify the loss of revenue on account of the decision to dispense with the cess on vegetable oils among others. This ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....able Oils and Fats. Unlike sub-rule (1), sub-rule (2) does not require the order of exemption to be published in the Official Gazette nor does it require that such exemption should be through a notification. The budget proposals of the Finance Minister and the letter of the Directorate of the Vanaspati and Vegetable Oils aforesaid are relatable to sub-rule (2) of Rule 8 of Central Excise Rules read with sub-section (4) of Section 3 of the Cess Act. Reading them together it must be held that the Government and the Directorate have exempted the vegetable oils from the levy under sub-section (1) of Section 3. 9. We find it difficult to agree. It is not brought to our notice that the budget proposals contained in the Finance Minister's speech were accepted by the Parliament. The cess having been imposed by a Parliamentary enactment could be rendered inoperative only by a Parliamentary enactment. Such repealing enactment came only in the year 1987 with effect from April 1,1987. Not only that. The repealing Act expressly provided in Section 13 that the cess due before the date of said repeal, but not collected, shall be collected according to law as if the Cess Act is not repealed. Th....