Judgment:

SINHA, C.J.I. : By this petition, under Art. 32 of the Constitution, the petitioners challenge the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Central Excises and Salt Act (1 of 1944) (which will be referred in the course of this judgment as the Act), read with R. 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 (1960) and the notifications thereunder, to be hereinafter set out. The first petitioner is the Orient Weaving Mills Private Ltd. (which will be termed hereinafter as the Company), and the second petitioner is a director of the Company. The respondents to the petition are (1) Union of India, through the Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), New Delhi (2) Secretary, Central Board of Revenue, New Delhi, (3) Superintendent, Central Excise, Cuttack, (4) Collector, Central Excise, Calcutta, (5) Board of Directors, Madhunagar Powerloom Weavers Co-operative Society Ltd., through its President (to be hereinafter referred to as the Society.)

2. The petition is founded on the following allegations. The Company is incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1913, with its head office at Nayabazar, Cuttack. The second petitioner is the director of the Company, which-runs a weaving mill at Nayabazar in Cuttack. There are 160 looms operating in the mill, and nearly 300 employees are employed in the factory, which produces, on the average, about 45 lakh yards of cloth (41/2 million yards). The paid-up-capital of the company is Rs. 7,10,000, divided into 7,100 shares of the value of Rs. 100 each. It has 8 directors, including a representative of the Government of Orissa. The Company commenced production on October 1, 1955, and has been sustaining losses ever since it started functioning "due to adverse circumstances in the State of Orissa and due to the heavy taxation and duties." Ever since the Company started production, it has been paying excise duty - Rs. 2,16,670 for the year 1958-59, Rs. 1,82,529 for the year 1959-60 and Rs. 2,15,500 for the year 1960-61. "Cotton fabrics" is one of the items in the first schedule

For Citation : AIR 1963 SC 98