CHINNAPPA REDDY, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioner is a licensed manufacturer of certain medicinal preparations which require alcohol as a basic raw material. The finished product manufactured by the petitioner contains no alcohol as an identifiable substance. He obtains his requirements of alcohol in the form of denatured spirit which is nothing but alcohol rendered unfit for human consumption by the addition of denaturant. He purchases denatured spirit from the Government distillery at Hyderabad pursuant to a licence issued by the Board of Revenue, now under the Andhra Pradesh Denatured spirit Rules, 1971 and previously under the Hyderabad Denatured Spirit Rules, 1955. The price of alcohol is fixed at 25. 7 paise per litre under the Ethyl alcohol Price Control Order, 1966 and where it is supplied in the form of denatured spirit an addition of 2 paise per litre is required to be made if the denaturant is supplied by the purchaser and 5 paise per litre in other cases. Under the Denatured Spirit Rules, old and new, in addition to the price of the denatured spirit, a purchaser is required to pay what is termed as "gallonage fees" at the rate of one rupee per gallon or 22 paise per litre.

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