Judgment

B.P. Singh, J.—Leave granted in Special Leave Petition (C) No. 1032 of 2003.

2. In these two batches of appeals, a common question arises, inter alia for consideration by this Court, namely- Whether the incidence of excise duty, having regard to the provision of the Kerala Abkari Act and the relevant Rules, falls upon the manufacturer/distiller such as the respondents herein and therefore includable in their turnover for the purpose of levy of turnover tax, or whether the incidence of excise duty falls on the Kerala State Beverages (Manufacturing and Marketing) Corporation Limited, a Government company which alone is liable to pay the excise duty on Indian Made Foreign Liquor, and consequently the said component is not includable in the turnover of the respondents/distillers?

3. These appeals came up for hearing before a 3 Judge Bench of this Court. After hearing the parties for sometime, by order dated October 17, 2001, it was observed that the point involved was an important one and it would be appropriate if the cases are heard by a Larger bench. The referring Bench observed thus:-

“The question which arises for consideration in these cases is, whether the excise duty levie