( 1 ) THE petitioner No. 1, the Indian Aluminium Company Ltd. is a Company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1956 and the petitioner No. 2 is a shareholder of the petitioner No. 1 Company.

( 2 ) AT all material times the petitioner No. 1 carried on and still carries on bunsiness of manufacturing and selling Aluminium and its allied products including Aluminium Sheets and Aluminium Container Sheets.

( 3 ) FOR the purpose of carrying on the said business the petitioner No. 1 owns and runs factories and/or plants at Belur (West Bengal), Hirakud (Orissa), Alupuram (Kerala), Belgaum (Karnataka), Kalwa (Maharashtra) and Taloja (Maharashtra ).

( 4 ) AT all material times Aluminium and its allied products including Aluminium Sheets and Aluminium Container Sheets as specified in Tariff Item 27 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 were and still are excisable commodities.

( 5 ) FOR the purpose of obtaining benefit of Rules 13 and 14 of the Central Excise Rules, the petitioner No. 1 at all material times has been exporting Aluminium products manufactured by it under Bond without payment of Excise Duty.

( 6 ) ON or about 3rd August,