JUDGMENT

VIKRAMAJIT SEN, J.

1. The Appellants before us assail the impugned Judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, which had upheld the legality of Andhra Pradesh Rectified Spirits Rules, 1971 (1971 Rules for brevity) and had found the requirement of obtaining a licence and the payment of Excise duty and Pass fee for exporting rectified spirit to be legal.

2. The Appellants have distilleries which produce various grades of industrial alcohol from molasses, also known as ethyl alcohol or ethanol. In exercise of powers conferred under Section 72 of the Andhra Pradesh Excise Act, 1968, the Respondent State enacted the 1971 Rules. Rules 4, 13 and 15 are laid out herein for the facility of reference; although in these Appeals it is Rule 15 which is in focus -

Rule 4: Rectified spirit shall not be issued from a distillery or a warehouse without pre-payment of administrative fee meant for industrial purposes. In case of potable purposes, rectified spirit shall not be issued from a distillery or a warehouse without pre-payment of Excise Duty except when rectified spirit is moved in bound or when payment of Excise Duty has been exempted.

Rule 13: (1) No person shall be granted licen