Judgement

BHARGAVA, J. :- This appeal by certificate arises out of proceedings started by institution of a suit by the respondents, challenging the imposition of excise duty on circles of kansi and brass prepared hi the process of manufacturing utensils. The facts, which have been found by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and the lower courts and which are not disputed, are that the respondents carry on business, at Rewari, of manufacturing kansi and brass utensils. For that purpose, they procure copper, tin and zinc. Kansi is prepared as an alloy of copper and tin, and brass as an alloy of copper and zinc. These alloys are prepared by melting the metals and mixing them together. These alloys are then converted into billets. These billets are thus of two kinds, viz., of kansi and of brass. These billets are then sent by the respondents to their agent who runs a rolling mill in Rewari, and the rolling mills roll the bulets into uncut circles. Subsequently, these uncut circles are trimmed and, after further work on them, they are converted into utensils and sold as such in the market by the respondents. The appellant imposed excise duty at the stage when the rolling mills prepared