The petitioners are, among other things, manufacturers of confectionery items, in their factory situated at Nellikuppam, South Arcot Dt., Tamil Nadu. They held a Central Excise Licence for the manufacture of general confectionery items dutied under item 1-A of the First Schedule to the Central Excise and Tariff Act, 1944 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'). In their application for central excise licence made under Rule 173(b) of the Central Excise Rules, they have mentioned 'Lozenges', as one of the items manufactured by the petitioners. These 'Lozenges' prepared by the petitioners were being assessed to the central excise duty as if they fall under item 1-A of the Schedule to the Act. The petitioners state that they have wrongly included in their application and were also paying mistakenly duty on Lozenges as if these Lozenges are also covered under item 1-A(1) of the Schedules. When the mistake was detected, they filed a petition on 20-10-1973 to the Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Pondicherry to delete lozenges from the list of excisable items mentioned in their application filed under rule 173(b) of the Central Excise Rules, and also prayed that they may