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TMI Blog2022 (6) TMI 140X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 018 and 26.09.2018 (Annexure No. 7 to the writ petition), clearly refers to the facts - against two transactions of 24,400 and 24,596 Bulk litres of Malt Spirit of strength 68% and 67.6% v/v, imported from William Grant, as cleared by the Customs authorities, 24346 and 24593 Bulk litres, were received at the petitioner's distillery, bearing strength 66.2% and 66.6% v/v, respectively. Whether it was permissible for the State revenue authorities to impose Consideration fee/'Pratiphal Shulk', against alleged loss of revenue on foreign liquor, springing from excess loss of the commodity HSMS, during its transportation from a bonded warehouse at I.C.D. Dadri, Gautam Budh Nagar, to the petitioner s distillery at Modi Nagar? - HELD THAT:- The applicable provisions - Section 15 and 16 of the Act have been quoted in paragraph 40 above. Clearly, those provisions are regulatory laws and not levy provisions. Therefore, under the Scheme of the Act, intoxicant, or liquor (as defined under Section 3 and 11 of the Act) including HSMS, stood covered under the regulatory provisions under the Act. Thus, amongst others, by virtue of Section 15 of the Act, HSMS could not be imported or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... State of India. Therefore, the injunction sought against that levy, by looking at the provision of law providing for levy of Consideration fee/ Pratiphal Shulk on excess loss of HSMS when transported within the State, from a distillery inside the State of Uttar Pradesh, is misconceived and inapplicable. The geographical place where the goods HSMS commenced their journey (upon being cleared from home consumption) remained inside the State of Uttar Pradesh, i.e., at Dadri, in Gautam Budh Nagar. Yet, HSMS had not been produced inside the State of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, they were imported into the country, at the I.C.D., Dadri, in Gautam Budh Nagar. Therefore, those goods became available for home consumption, under the umbrella of local regulatory laws of the State of Uttar Pradesh, only. Keeping these facts in mind, for the purpose of levy of Consideration fee/ Pratiphal Shulk , on excess transportation loss of HSMS, the applicable law for computation of that regulatory fee would remain the laws of the State of Uttar Pradesh, only. It would not be right to say - the Act and the Excise Manual create levy of Consideration Fee/'Pratiphal Shulk' only on dispatches made f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r was thus heard. Here, it may be noted, the plea of alternative remedy has not been urged at the stage of final hearing. The State has also sought a decision on merits. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner states, the petitioner is a duly incorporated company having its distillery at Modi Nagar, Ghaziabad. It first imported into the country, 24,400 Bulk litres of HSMS from William Grant, against Bill of Entry BE No. 7590551 dated 10.08.2018. Those goods entered the country through a seaport, in the State of Gujarat. They were then transshipped to I.C.D., Dadri during that import. At Dadri, those goods were imported into the country and cleared for home consumption against payment of Custom Duty @ 150% of the value of goods. As per the Certificate of Analysis, Goods Note, Certificate of Origin and Age Certificate, issued by the Custom Authorities in the United Kingdom, HSMS thus imported were having alcoholic strength, 68%. Thereafter, the petitioner applied for permission to import / transport those 24,400 Bulk litres of HSMS from I.C.D., Dadri, to its distillery at Modi Nagar, Ghaziabad. That permission was granted vide order dated 21.08.2018, under the Act and Rules fram ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Shulk Rs.4,59,385.20. The petitioner filed its reply dated 11.10.2018, to that notice. 7. Thereafter, the date of personal hearing was fixed for 08.05.2019. On 08.07.2019, a common order was passed confirming the demand of Consideration Fee/ Pratiphal Shulk , on excess transit loss at Rs.15,51,042.50, on both transactions (described above), @ Rs. 1192.33 per Bulk litre. 8. Against that common order, the petitioner filed appeal no.57 of 2019 under Section 11(1) of the Act. It was dismissed by order dated 27.01.2021. Further, by a separate letter dated 27.01.2021, the petitioner was required to deposit the disputed demand. However, within three days therefrom, on 05.02.2021, the entire disputed demand of Consideration Fee/ Pratiphal Shulk was recovered, much before expiry of normal period of limitation to file a revision. It may be noted, under the scheme of the Act, under Section 11, upon a revision being filed and 25% of the disputed demand being paid, the balance disputed demand would remain stayed during pendency of the revision application. 9. Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit, the State of U.P. has no legislative competence to levy Excise duty on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... they were goods produced inside the State of U.P. nor they were brought inside the State of U.P. from any other State within the country. Therefore, by very description of their arrival into the country and/or the State of U.P., from abroad, the goods HSMS were not amenable to Excise duty under the Act. Therefore, they were not liable to suffer levy of Consideration Fee/ Pratiphal Shulk , either. 12. By way of elaboration of his submissions learned counsel for the petitioner has relied on the provisions of Section 12 of the Act. While sub- Section (1) of the said provision refers to grant of permission by the State Government-for the purpose of import of excisable goods, sub-Section (2) thereof makes it plain - nothing in sub-Section (1) would apply to the goods that may be imported into the country, after suffering liability of Customs duty. HSMS having suffered Custom duty under the Indian Customs Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as the Customs Act), upon its import across the customs frontiers of the country i.e. at the I.C.D. Dadri, the same were not liable to suffer Excise duty or any other levy, by whatever name called, under the Act. 13. Then, reliance has also ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to the petitioner's distillery. That transaction would fall outside the levy provision even if that provision were to apply. Here, referring to paragraph No. 612 read with paragraph Nos. 613 and 814 of the U.P. Excise Manual (under Chapter-VIII), it has been submitted, those provisions apply only to dispatches made by and from the distillery and not - to the distillery. In that regard, reliance has been placed on Mohan Meakin Breweries Ltd. Vs Excise Taxation Commr., Chandigarh Ors., (1976) 3 SCC 421. 16. Last, still in the alternative, in any case, conceptually and as also according to the statutory scheme itself, Consideration Fee/'Pratiphal Shulk may be levied under the Act, only by the State of export. In case of inter-State trade within the country, such levy may arise in the consignor State, upon receipt of intimation of excess loss, sent by the consignee State. In the instant case, undisputedly, the goods had been dispatched from Scotland in United Kingdom. Therefore, theoretically, and in view of the earlier submissions advanced, the levy could not arise at the instance of or by the State of import namely the State of Uttar Pradesh. Reliance has been plac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ete at that point of time. Their storage at I.C.D. Dadri was only a facilitation arrangement to ensure further compliances of the provisions of the Customs Act. It was not determinative of the physical crossing of the goods across the customs frontier of the country. 21. Then, reference has been made to the permission to transport, obtained by the petitioner on Form FL-22, issued under paragraph Nos. 609, 615(5) and 617(3) of the U.P. Excise Manual. It was thus submitted, the petitioner twice obtained permissions under the Act, to transport 24,400 Bulk litres and 24596 Bulk litres, HSMS, against payment of import fee @ Rs. 4 per Bulk litre. That permission was sought and was granted on the own application made by the petitioner, under the Act. Thus, the petitioner was permitted to transport desired quantities of HSMS, from ICD Dadri to its distillery at Modi Nagar Ghaziabad. No amount of Excise duty was prepaid, at that stage as the consignments were transported under respective bonds issued by the petitioner. 22. Further, relying on the application dated 02.8.2018 made by the petitioner with respect to the first transaction, and the other application dated 31.8.2018, mad ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for realisation of Consideration Fee/ Pratiphal Shulk , to ensure, no quantity of excisable goods is dealt with except in compliance with the regulatory law enacted by the State. Relying on the amended law providing for permissible loss @ of 0.5%, as approved by the Supreme Court in State of U.P. and Others Vs. Delhi Cloth Mills and another, (1991) 1 SCC 454, it has been urged that the demand of Consideration Fee/ Pratiphal Shulk , is wholly in accordance with law. 27. The decision of the Supreme Court in State of U.P. Ors. Vs. Modi Distilleries Ors. (supra) is stated to be distinguishable. In that, the High Court quashed the orders demanding Excise duty. The Supreme Court categorised the cases into four types. Group-A cases involved demand of Excise duty on wastage of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) exported outside the State of U.P. Group-B cases involved demand of Excise duty on wastage during transportation (in containers) - of High Strength Spirit of strength 80-85%, from distilleries to warehouse. Group-C cases involved demand of Excise duty on obscuration. The last category - Group-D cases involved Excise duty levied on pipeline wastage. In the submission of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dispute as to fact, the objection raised by the State - to availability of pleadings (in the writ petition) - to support the first ground of challenge raised, is not accepted. To deal with the first submission advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner, it is relevant to take note of certain provisions of the Act, namely, sub-Sections (3-a), (11), (13), (17), (19), (20) and (22-a) of Section 3 of the Act may be seen. They read as below: 3. Interpretation.- In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in this subject or context: (3a) Excise Duty and countervailing duty means any Excise Duty or countervailing duty, as the case may be, as is mentioned in Entry 51 of List II in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution; (11) liquor means intoxicating liquor and includes spirits of wine, spirit, wine, tari, pachwai, beer and all liquid consisting of or containing alcohol, also any substance which the State Government may by notification declare to be liquor for the purposes of the Act. (13) intoxicant means any liquor or intoxicating drug as defined by this Act; (17) import (except in the phrase import to India ) means to bring into ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... according to the places to which any excisable article is to be removed for consumption, or according to the varying strength and quality of such article. [(2) The State Government shall, in imposing an Excise duty or a countervailing duty as aforesaid and in fixing its rate, be guided by the directive principles specified in Article 47 of the Constitution of India. (3) Such duty shall not exceed the maximum as provided hereinafter: 33. Read in the backdrop of Entry 51 of List II of the 7th Schedule to the Constitution of India, together with the definition clause of 'Excise duty' and 'import' [Section 3 (3-a) and 3(17) of the Act] together with Section 28 of the Act, it is plain - the State of U.P., could not and it did not levy Excise duty on any Excisable article imported across the customs frontier of the country, after payment of Customs duty etc. However, that embargo in law, operates against levy of Excise duty (under the Act) on an imported article, cleared or made available, as such, for home consumption. It would not extend or apply to any excisable article manufactured from that imported and Customs duty paid, article. 34. Here ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t submission advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner, is found to be misconceived. In absence of any impost of Excise duty under the Act, on HSMS, that aspect of the submission advanced, is academic. Strictly, it does not arise in the facts of the present case. However, it s other aspect may be examined a little later. 38. Also, in view of the discussion made above, the ratio arising from Golden Silk Mills Ltd (supra); Kiran Spinning Mills (supra); Indian Tourist Development Corporation Ltd. (supra) , does not conflict with the impost of Consideration Fee/ 'Pratiphal Shulk'. 39. Insofar as the second submission is concerned, it must be examined - whether it was permissible for the State revenue authorities to impose Consideration fee/'Pratiphal Shulk', against alleged loss of revenue on foreign liquor, springing from excess loss of the commodity HSMS, during its transportation from a bonded warehouse at I.C.D. Dadri, Gautam Budh Nagar, to the petitioner s distillery at Modi Nagar. 40. Before making any further discussion on that count, again, it may be relevant to take note of certain provisions of the law. The statutory requirement to obtain ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aragraphs of that compendium, numbered consecutively, in a single series. Paragraph no. 12 of the Excise Manual reads as below: 12. Foreign liquor. - Foreign Liquor means- (1) beer and spirit, wines and liquors, which have been imported into India and are intended for human consumption and were liable, on such importation, to duty under the Indian Tariff Act, 1894 (read with the Indian Tariff Act, 1934), or the Sea Customs Act, 1878; (2) spirit made in India and sophisticated or coloured so as to resemble in flavour or colour, liquor imported into India; (3) beer brewed in India; (4) wines and liquors made in India, and (5) all rectified, perfumed, medicated and denatured spirits, wherever made. (emphasis supplied) 42. Thus, the fine distinction that may otherwise exist between foreign liquor imported into India and similar beverages manufactured inside the country, has been blurred. While liquors manufactured outside the country are first included in the term foreign liquor, as described under subparagraph 1 of paragraph 12 of the Manual, similar liquors distilled or manufactured inside the country are included within the mea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ive limit for transport of Indian-made foreign liquor. (3) No denatured spirit in excess of limit of retail sale shall be imported, exported or transported except under a pass as provided for in Sections 15 and 16 of the Act. 46. Part (A-1) of Chapter VIII, Section XXXVIII of the Excise Manual pertains to Import of IMFL. It contains Rules pertaining to import of IMFL into the State of U.P., from any other State in the country. Paragraph Nos. 608, 609, 610 and 613 of the Manual read as below: 608. Methods of import. - Indian-made foreign liquor may be imported either- (1) in bond for payment of duty in Uttar Pradesh; (2) on repayment of duty in Uttar Pradesh; or (3) on repayment of duty in the State or Union Territory of export, at the rates leviable in Uttar Pradesh to be subsequently transferred to this State by book transfer; (4) free duty or a reduced rate of duty under the conditions laid down in the rules hereinafter following. (1) Import in Bond 609. Conditions to be fulfilled by importer. - Any person holding a licence for the vend of foreign liquor and also regimental units in Uttar Pradesh may import Indian-made forei ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the district of import. One copy of the permit shall be made over to the importer, the second copy shall be forwarded to the Chief Revenue Authority of the district of export and the third shall be retained by the Collector for record and verification of the consignment on arrival. The permit shall remain in force up to the date specified therein. ... 613. Pass to be verified by Assistant Excise Commissioner. - (1) As soon as may be after such arrival the officer in-charge of the bonded warehouse shall certify on the importer's copy of the pass full details regarding the liquor received in such form as may be prescribed in the pass or required by the authorities of the district or place of export and shall return it to the officer who granted it after verification by the Assistant Excise Commissioner. (2) Within fifteen days of the date of receipt of the warehouse the importer shall clear the whole consignment on payment of duty in the treasury of the district of import. If he fails to do so, the Collector may charge storage fees at such rates as he thinks fit for the period it remains in the warehouse in excess of 15 days. The Collector may dispose it of a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tate seeks to levy excise duty upon is not alcoholic liquor for human consumption but the raw material or input still in process of being rendered fit for consumption by human beings. The State is not empowered to levy excise duty on the raw material or input that is in the process of being made into alcoholic liquor for human consumption. (emphasis supplied) 49. Second, even otherwise, it would be one thing to say HSMS, if it had been cleared inside the State of U.P. for consumption in that form itself, would not have attracted levy of Excise duty under the Act (by virtue of its import from outside the country), and it would be completely another thing to say that commodity would therefore fall outside the regulatory provisions of the Act. 50. The applicable provisions - Section 15 and 16 of the Act have been quoted in paragraph 40 above. Clearly, those provisions are regulatory laws and not levy provisions. Therefore, under the Scheme of the Act, intoxicant, or liquor (as defined under Section 3 and 11 of the Act) including HSMS, stood covered under the regulatory provisions under the Act. Thus, amongst others, by virtue of Section 15 of the Act, HSMS could n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s of the country at I.C.D. Dadri, in Gautam Budh Nagar. Therefore, no amount of Excise duty may have been imposed under the Act, on those goods till they remained HSMS. Yet, by way of a regulatory measure, the State legislature could bind the importer/petitioner to account for the entire quantity of HSMS thus imported, to ensure it was used wholly to manufacture excisable articles inside the State of Uttar Pradesh. Consequently, to enforce that regulatory measure, it could impose fee on excessive loss of that imported commodity, during its transportation inside the State of Uttar Pradesh i.e., upon their clearance from the bonded warehouse at Dadri to its distillery at Modi Nagar, Ghaziabad. 55. Merely because no Excise duty could be levied under the Act on HSMS, there is no reason to accept those goods imported into the country would be exempt from operation of the regulatory law, inside the State of Uttar Pradesh though similar goods originating in any part of the country, would be subject to such regulatory law when imported into the State of Uttar Pradesh. 56. In State of Jharkhand and Others Vs. Ajanta Bottlers and Blenders Pvt. Ltd, (2019) 7 SCC 545, an issue aros ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed bear no quid pro quo to the services rendered to the licensee for production of foreign liquor (IMFL). 16. The fact that the manufacturer-respondent has already obtained requisite licences for import of rectified spirit and production of foreign liquor (IMFL) on payment of fixed rates does not mean that the State has surrendered all facets of its rights in respect of every form of activity in relation to potable liquor - its manufacture, storage, export, import, sale and possession. The amended provision is an enabling provision authorising the State to levy charges or impost for ceding its one or more of the activity in respect of foreign liquor (IMFL) produced by use of imported rectified spirit. Such impost can be in addition to the general power of the State to issue licence on payment of fees for production and sale of potable liquor. As observed in Har Shankar [Har Shankar v. Excise Taxation Commr., (1975) 1 SCC 737] , in para 56, the State need bear no quid pro quo to the services rendered to the licensees of producer of foreign liquor. 17. The respondent respondent, however, placed heavy reliance on the decision in State of U.P. v. Vam Organic Chemicals L ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent case, as recorded in the show cause notices, the goods HSMS were lost both in quantity and strength. 59. Undisputedly, under Section 3 of the Act, where the context otherwise requires, the statutory definition of any word or phrase, may be departed. There is no exception to doubt the same. In Dhandhania Kedia Co. Vs CIT AIR 1959 SC 219, a three-Judge bench of the Supreme Court had the occasion to consider if the statutory definition given to the phrase previous year incorporated under section 2(11) of the Indian Finance Act, 1950, being period of twelve months ending last day of March next, preceding the year for which assessment was to be made, would apply to words six previous years used in Section 6 of that Act for the purpose of computation of accumulated profits of a company preceding the date of its liquidation. That dispute arose, since, to the erstwhile State of Udaipur, the Income Tax Act first came in force on 01.04.1950 whereas the disputed dividend Rs. 26000/- first arose upon liquidation of the company in question, on 22.04.1950. Negating the submission based on the statutory definition of previous year , the Supreme Court found, that meaning to be plai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of 3 years old Vatted Malt Scotch from M/s William Grant Sons Distillers Ltd., Giravan Distillery, Grangestone Industrial Estate, Girvan, Scotland via invoice no.3003501 dt. 06/06/2018 for the development of IMFL products in our distillery. The 24400.00 BL Malt Scotch will come to India in tanker through Ship to India and then will come to custom ware house I.C.D, Dadri, Dist. Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P). We will import this scotch malt from ICD Dadri, Dist. Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P), to our distillery at Modinagar. The route to transport this Imported Malt Spirit will be as under. Dadri-Ghaziabad-Modinagar. We are enclosing herewith the Performa invoice issued by M/s William Grant Sons Distillers Ltd., Scotland. Therefore it is requested to kindly grant your permission to import 24400.0 B.L.Malt Scotch from LC.D. Dadri, Dist. Gautam Budih Nagar ((UP), with 60 days time. Thanking you For Modi Distillery -sd/- (Mukesh Sharma) G.M. (Plant) Enclosure: As above (emphasis supplied) 62. On that application, the Pass on Form FL-22 was issued to the petitioner. Again, for ready reference, the contents of one such Pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of import, from I.C.D. Dadri. Yet, the nature of that transaction involved inter-play of the laws enacted by the State legislature i.e. the Act read with the Rules framed thereunder and the laws enacted by the Parliament, namely, the Customs Act and the Rules framed thereunder. 64. There is no conflict between the Customs laws enacted by the Parliament and the regulatory laws enacted by the State legislature. Under Chapter VIII of the Customs Act, the procedure is prescribed to obtain clearance of goods, for import and export. Section 45 of the Customs Act places restriction on the custody and removal of imported goods. Thus, goods imported from outside the country are unloaded in a customs area. They remain in the custody of the person approved by the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, until they are cleared for consumption or warehousing or transit, in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Act. Under Section 46 of the Customs Act, a detailed procedure is provided for entry of goods on importation, on the strength of bill of entries etc. Section 47 of the Customs Act provides for clearance of goods for home consumption upon payment of im ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed counsel for the petitioner), was issued. Contents of paragraph nos. 2, 2.1, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.4, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.3 and 2.4.4 are quoted below: 2. Distinction between ICD, CFS and AFS 2.1 Inland Container Depot (ICD) : 2.1.1. An off seaport (or port) facility. having such fixed installations or otherwise, equipment, machinery etc. providing services for handling / clearance of laden import, export containers for home use, warehousing, temporary admissions, re-export etc under customs control and with storage facility for customs bonded or non-bonded cargo. 2.1.2. An ICD is a self-contained Customs station like a port or air cargo unit where filing of Customs manifests, Bills of Entries, Shipping Bills and other declarations, assessment and all the activities related to clearance of goods for home use, warehousing, temporary admissions, re-export, temporary storage for onward transit and outright export, transshipment, etc., take place. An ICD would have its own automated system/ with a separate station code (such as INTKD 6, INSNF6 etc.) being allotted by Ministry of Commerce and with in-built capacity to enter examination reports and enable assessm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erminal): The place where container trains are ved, dispatched and handled in a terminal. Similarly, the containers are loaded on and unloaded from rail wagons at the siding through overhead cranes and / or other the equipment. 2.4.2 Container Yard: Container yard occupies the largest area in the ICD/CFS. It is acting area where the export containers are aggregated prior to dispatch to port, pt containers are stored till Customs clearance and where empty containers await movement. Likewise, some stacking areas are earmarked for keeping special ners such as refrigerated, hazardous, overweight/over-length etc. 2.4.3. Warehouse: Public warehouse appointed under section 57 or private warehouse licensed under section 58 is a covered space/shed where export cargo is received and import cargo stored/delivered; containers are stuffed/ stripped or reworked; LCL exports are consolidated and import LCLS are unpacked; and cargo is physically examined by Customs. Export and import consignments are generally handled either at separate areas in a warehouse or in different nominated warehouses/sheds. 2.4.4. Gate Complex: The gate complex regulates the entry and exits of road v ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... earance for human consumption. 71. Examined in the context of discussion made above, the geographical place where the goods HSMS commenced their journey (upon being cleared from home consumption) remained inside the State of Uttar Pradesh, i.e., at Dadri, in Gautam Budh Nagar. Yet, HSMS had not been produced inside the State of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, they were imported into the country, at the I.C.D., Dadri, in Gautam Budh Nagar. Therefore, those goods became available for home consumption, under the umbrella of local regulatory laws of the State of Uttar Pradesh, only. Keeping these facts in mind, for the purpose of levy of Consideration fee/ Pratiphal Shulk , on excess transportation loss of HSMS, the applicable law for computation of that regulatory fee would remain the laws of the State of Uttar Pradesh, only. Any other construction may lead to redundancy of the regulatory law, a consequence to be avoided. Therefore, in such circumstance, Consideration fee/ Pratipahal Shulk would be imposed in accordance with the rates prescribed in the State of Uttar Pradesh and not any other State. Thus, upon excessive loss of HSMS, the petitioner became obligated to pay Consideration ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on which at the rate prescribed therefor at the time or the aggregate of such duty and the duty at the aforesaid rate on any quantity previously transported/exported and not yet delivered at destination shall exceed the sum of Rupees Provided that any allowance sanctioned for dryage and wastage and any quantity not delivered at destination for which duty has been paid under clause (3) hereinafter following shall not be included in the calculation of the quantity not delivered at destination 2. That the distiller/distillers shall within the time mentioned in his/their pass issued by the officer-in-charge of the distillery on each occasion of the transport/export of spirits or within such further time as may be granted by way of extension by the Collector of the transporting/ exporting district, deliver or cause to be delivered the spirits so transported/exported on that occasion into the custody of the officer-incharge of the bonded warehouse. mentioned in the pass 3. That if the whole or any quantity of spirit transported/exported on any occasion shall not have been delivered at the destination as hereinbefore agreed, the distiller/distillers shall indemnify the Gover ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... phal Shulk' only on dispatches made from the distillery and not to the distillery. All transportation of liquor within the State, is covered within the regulatory sweep of Sections 15 16 of the Act. The petitioner applied and the respondents granted Pass to the petitioner (to transport HSMS from I.C.D. Dadri, in Gautam Budh Nagar to petitioner s distillery at Modi Nagar, Ghaziabad), on Form FL-22, against bond. That procedure was not contrary to the law. The petitioner was bound by the terms of the Pass read with the Excise Manual. 76. Accordingly, for reasons noted above, the writ petition lacks merit. No further challenge has been raised to the computation method adopted by the revenue authorities, to determine the amount of Consideration Fee/ Pratiphal Shulk . Thus, it is not the petitioner s case that computation made is excessive or that it should have been computed through any other method. 77. Before parting, it may be observed, statutory authorities must act within the confines of the law. In the present case, they ought to have waited for expiry of the period of limitation that was available to the petitioner, to file revision, before recovering the dispute ..... 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