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TMI Blog1989 (8) TMI 90X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he warp cords by subjecting it to certain chemical processes to impart the adequate strength and stretching ability. Due to various technological advancements the elimination of abrasion at the cross-over points of the warp and weft has been a very significant improvement in tyre construction. Of late steel cords are also being used for reinforcing tyres. The essential character of fabric is lacking in warp sheets as there are no weft cords or thread at all or of equal density with the warp cords. The petitioner has claimed that the warp sheets are purchased by them from the market at a stretch when they had already been subjected to charge of the excise duty relating to the yarn under the First Schedule to the Central Excises Salt Act, 1944 and the petitioner Company purchased the warp cord sheets from the manufacturers thereof and the price paid by the petitioner includes excise duty, levied upto the stage of manufacturing of warp cord sheets. In the petitioner's factory, there is alleged to be continuous process of manufacture starting from the impart by way of using the rubber with various chemicals and warp cord sheets ending with finished tyre. The petitioner has referred t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dated 28/29th October, 1980 issued by the Superintendent of Central Excise alleging that tyre cord warp sheets were classifiable as warp sheets under Central Excise Tariff Item No. 19 or No. 22 based on the content of fabrics from yarn or both used in its manufacture. The petitioner has been called upon to take out the licence and to submit various applications and/or declarations on the footing of the said communication. The petitioner is alleged to have been served with the notices to show cause-cum-demand as indicated above. Stating all these facts in details, the petitioner Company has moved the present writ petition on the ground that rubberisation tyre cord warp sheets and/or rubberised materials with vulcanisation is an intermediary and in process stage and in a continuous process of manufacture which does not and cannot involve clearance or removal for the purpose of attracting excise duty. The application of non-vulcanised rubber, warp cord sheets and/or rubberised materials being sticky and adhesive substance impossible of handling separately as a product and is of no use in a continuous process of manufacture ending with tyres and other rubber products of different numb ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... st Schedule importing and unsearching therein the required concept of processing which was to be construed as manufacture within the meaning of the said Section 2(f) as amended by the said Amending Act. Pursuant to the issue of Trade Notice No. 154/Cotton Fabrics/lO/CE/80 dated 30-9-1980 as stated above, the respondent No. 4 the Superintendent of Central Excise, Dunlop-I Range invited the attention of the petitioner company informing inter alia that it was cord warp sheets be classifiable under Item No. 19 or Item No. 22 of the First Schedule to the said Act, the petitioner Company should not clearly consume in the petitioner's factory any processed fabric without payment of central excise duty thereon from the date of receipt of the said letter. The petitioner Company was also requested to submit an application for Central Excise Licence for manufacture of the processed fabrics and furnished a necessary declaration, classification list and price-list along with relevant records. In spite of such specific communication, the petitioner Company failed and ignored to comply with the said request of the respondent No. 4 to furnish the required information and the respondent No. 4 had n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... orts (Control) Act, 1947, the proceedings under the said Sections being quasi-judicial in nature, whether a statute provides for a notice or not, it is incumbent upon the Collector to issue notice to the importer disclosing the circumstances under which proceedings are sought to be initiated against him. Any proceedings taken without such notice would be against the principles of natural justice and if on a reading of the said notice it is manifest on the assumption that the facts alleged or allegations made therein were true. None of the conditions laid down in the specified sections was contravened, the Collector would have no jurisdiction to initiate proceedings pursuant to their notices. In such a case the Collector can be prohibited from proceeding with the same. This Court has looked to the said principle and with regard to the facts of the present case it does not find that such principles are applicable. It is needless to observe that anything prohibited in law cannot be pursuaded by any authority and quasi-judicial authority is indeed prohibited to exercise any power in excess of its jurisdiction or beyond its jurisdiction. Certainly, the writ will lie in such a case. In t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ingle instance was provided by the respondents demonstrating that such aluminium cans manufactured by the Union Carbide (India) Limited as covered by the said case can have a market. It was, however, also found that it did not seem to the Supreme Court that in order to attract excise duty the article manufactured must be capable of sale to a consumer. Entry 84 of List I of Schedule VII to the Constitution specifically speaks of the duties of excises on tobacco and other goods manufactured and produced in India...., and it is now well accepted that excise duty is an indirect tax only. The burden of the result is passed on the ultimate consumers, this Court being aware of the principles of law to attract the excise duties, has considered the present case as to whether the issuance of the impugned notices and the trade notice are otherwise invalid and those should be struck down so that no proceedings can be initiated to adjudicate the matter in accordance with law. With great anxieties, this Court has scrutinized the impugned notices and the requisitions but does not find those steps are found to be either irregular or invalid. The objections taken by the petitioner Company are absol ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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