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TMI Blog1974 (10) TMI 32X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nch Polish between June, 1965 and April, 1966 and further levied penalty of Rs. 5/- for breach of Rule 9 and penalty of Rs. 2/- for breach of Rule 53, which order levying excise duty as well as penalty was confirmed by the Collector of Central Excise on 3rd September, 1969. 2. A few facts leading to the petition may be stated. In January, 1963 the petitioner made an application for licence to manufacture French Polish and also for a permit for denatured spirit. It appears that he wanted to start a manufacturing concern in his factory at Poona and for that purpose he made the aforesaid application in January, 1963. On 4th March, 1964, a licence as well as permit asked for were granted. The licence obviously was to manufacture French Polish ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion on 28th February, 1966. The petitioner carried the matter further by way of revision to the Central Board of Excise Customs and the Central Board by its letter dated 16th March, 1967 rejected the revision. Against the order of the Central Board of Excise the petitioner preferred further application to the Government of India, Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue and Insurance), New Delhi on 3rd June, 1967, which application was rejected by the Government of India on 11th June, 1968. It may be stated that levy of duty as well as penalty was challenged by the petitioner in these proceedings adopted by him against the show cause notice on three grounds: (1) that no excise duty was leviable because the French polish was not covered ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by petitioner by the present writ petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution. 3. The respondent have resisted the petition on several grounds by filing an affidavit in reply of one N.D. Khosla, Deputy Collector of Central Excise, on 14th June, 1971. Apart from raising preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition on the ground of laches as well as on the ground of non-exhaustion of remedies available to him under the Act and Rules framed thereunder, the respondents have denied several submissions and contentions made by the petitioner on merits. It has been contended that French Polish has been rightly held to be included in the item of 'Varnishes' in Tariff Item 14(II)(i) of the Central Excise Tariff an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ntrary view and we do see any reason why that view should be disturbed. After all the correct test in interpreting any item mentioned in the First Schedule to the Central Excise Act is to see the commercial sense in which the item is understood or the sense in which traders or persons dealing in that item understand it and not the technical or scientific sense. The principle of proper construction of items occurring in statute like Sales Tax Act has been laid down by the Supreme Court in M/s. Ganesh Trading Co. v. State of Haryana reported in A.l.R. 1974 S.C. 1362, where the Supreme Court has observed as follows : "This court has firmly ruled that in finding out the true meaning of entries mentioned in a Sales Tax Act, what is relevant is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... te runs as follows :- " 'Varnish' is a generic name given to a homogeneous solution of gums or resins in alcohol, linseed oil or the like which is coated on various articles for preventive or decorative purposes. French Polish is only a speciesing a homogeneous solution in alcohol with the result that the voltatile besolvent evaporates quickly. In taking statutes, which have to be construed strictly, it is the natural meaning of the word which must be adhered to. In the absence of any indication in the statute itself, it will not be reasonable to restrict. that meaning only because a commodity clearly falling within its ambit is, for certain purposes, given another name in commerce, French Polish is included in the word 'Varnishes' and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... terests of the existing manufacturers who could not have visualised the new restriction imposed with effect from 6th July, 1963. It was on this basis that classification based on starting of the business before and after a particular date has been sought to be justified us being reasonable and we see no reason as to why the basis given in the said pare should not be accepted as rational basis for classification of manufacturers by reference to that date. The second aspect of plea of discrimination was that if the case of the petitioner was compared with the case of one Mr. Sharma, who was also a manufacturer of French Polish, the petitioner could be said to have been discriminated against, for, according to petitioner, Mr. Sharma had been g ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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