Judgment

HEGDE, J. :- In this appeal by certificate though several contentions were raised in the memo of appeal only two of them were pressed at the time of hearing. They are: (1) under the circumstances of the case the confiscation ordered by the Collector, Central Excise is illegal and (2) under any circumstances he could not have confiscated the entire quantity of tobacco used in the mixture.

2. The appellants are tobacco merchants in Dashrath village near Baroda in Gujarat State. At the relevant time they were holding Central Excise licence in from L-2 and L-5 for the purpose of storing, selling and processing duty paid and non-duty paid tobacco. They had their own duty paid and non-duty paid godowns. In about December 1958 according to their books they possessed the following lots of different varieties of tobacco.

Variety of tobacco Quantity Rate of duty

Biri Patti Bmds. 251.8 Rs. 1.20 np per lb

Stems Kandi " 287.20 Rs. 0.50 -do-

Rava " 1326.14 Rs. 0.50 -do-

Stalk Kandi " 57.20 Rs. 0.06 -do-

3. On December 13, 1958 the appellants obtained permission from the Local Central Excise Authorities to mix the above lots of tobacco. The percentage of different varieties of tobacco when