SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.P.Jeevan Reddy : P.B.Sawant
Barnagore Jute Factory Company
Versus
Inspector Of Central Excise
Case No. : 2714 , 2716 of 1981
Date of Decision : 12/3/91
JUDGMENT
B.P. JEEVAN REDDY, J.
(1) COMMON questions arise in this batch of civil appeals and the writ petition. All the appeals except one arise from the judgment of Calcutta High court dismissing the Writ Petitions filed by the appellants. Special Leave Petition No. 5466 of 1980 is preferred by the Inspector of Customs and central Excise (State) against the judgment of the Patna High court allowing the writ petition filed by the respondent, Rameshwar Jute Mills Limited. Writ Petition No. 9701 of 1982 is Filed under Article 32 of the Constitution by a jute mill questioning the notifications and notices issued by the respondents whereunder it was called upon to pay cess on jute yarn and twine. So are the other writ petitions. For the sake of convenience, we shall refer to the facts in Civil Appeal No. 2439 of 1979 and to the facts in Civilarising from Special Leave Petition No. 5466 of 1980. During the arguments before us, facts of these two cases alone were referred.
(2) THE appellant in civil no. 2439 of 1979, New central Jute Mills Company Ltd., is a company engaged in manufacture of jute products like jute twine, yarn, sacking, carpet backing etc. Jute twine and jute yarn, manufactured by them is used in their own establishment for manufacturing other (finished) products. In other words, jute twine and jute yarn are intermediate products which are captively consumed in the same unit for manufacturing the end products which fall within the expression jute textiles.
(3) JUTE Textile Industry is one of the industries specified in the First Schedule to the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The Act, as is well known, was enacted in 1951 to provide for the development and regulation of certain industries. S. 2 of the Act contains a declaration to the effect "that it is expedient in the public interest that the Union should take under its control the industries speciFied in the First Schedule". Heading No. 23 in the First Schedule reads as follows: "23. Textiles (including those dyed, printed or otherwise processed):
(1 made wholly or in part of cotton, including cotton yarn, hosiery and rope;
(2 made wholly or in part of jute, including jute twine and rope;
(3 made wholly or in part of wool, including wool tops, woollen yarn, hosiery, carpets and druggets;
(4 made wholly or in part of silk, including silk yarn and hosiery;
(5 made wholly or in part of synthetic, artificial (man-made) Fibres, including yam and hosiery of such fibres."
(emphasis added)
(4) S. 3 of the Act defines certain expressions. For our purpose, it is sufficient to notice the definitions of "Industrial undertaking" in clause (d) and of "Scheduled Industry" in clause (i). They read as follows:
"(D) industrial undertaking means any undertaking pertaining to a scheduled industry carried on in one or more factories by any person or authority including government; * * * (i) scheduled industry means any of the industries specified in the First Schedule."
(5) THE Act contains several provisions designed to promote and regulate the scheduled industries and their products. S. 6 provides for establishment and constitution of Development councils and their functions. It empowers the central government to establish a Development council for any scheduled industry or group of scheduled industries. Such Development council has to perform such functions of a kind specified in the second schedule as may be assigned to it by the Central government. S. 9 provides for levy of a cess which, after collection, is made over to the Development council established under Section 6. The Development council has to utilise the said fund for promoting scientific and industrial research with reference to such industry and take measures for promoting the interests of such industry. It will be g appropriate to set out S. 9 in its entirety: "9. Imposition of cess on schedul
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