( 1 ) BROOKE Bond India Ltd. , the petitioner No. 1, is an existing company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1956. Satya Paul Saigal, the petitioner No. 2, is a shareholder of the petitioner No. 1. The petitioner No. 1 carries on business in tea. Purchased in India, such tea is sold by the petitioner No. 1 in India and is also exported abroad.

( 2 ) PRODUCTION of tea in India involves the following : tea leaves plucked from plants in the tea gardens are subjected to successive processes known as withering, rolling fermentation, firing and sorting at the factories or processing centres.

( 3 ) MANUFACTURED as aforesaid, tea is packed in chests in bulk by the manufacturers and are cleared upon payment of Central Excise Duty for being sold in different auction centres.

( 4 ) THE petitioner's case is that the manufacture of tea is completed in the factory and processing centres as aforesaid whereby a manufactured product known as tea, fit for human consumption, is brought into existence.

( 5 ) THE petitioner No. 1 does not own any tea garden and purchases tea of different varieties from the auction centres all over India upon payment of appropriate Centr