Govinda Menon, J.-In this Second Appeal the appellant is the Union of India, represented by the Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, New Delhi and the questions that arise are firstly whether a Civil Court has got jurisdiction to order refund of amounts alleged to have been illegally collected as Central excise-tax on betel-nuts and secondly whether on the facts of the case there has been such illegal collection. The respondents filed O.S. No. 183 of 1947 in the Court of the District Munsif, Mangalore, for refund of Rs. 502, stated to have been illegally collected as Central excise-tax on cured betel-nuts. The trial Court held that the suit was not maintainable and dismissed the same. In appeal the learned Subordinate Judge, South Kanara, came to a contrary conclusion and decreed the suit as prayed for and hence the present Second Appeal.

Under the Indian Finance Act of 1944 the Government of India imposed an excise duty of two annas per pound on cured betel-nuts produced on and after 1st April, 1944. The first plaintiff a dealer in arecanuts had already stocked-cured nuts by the end of March, 1944, which could not be brought within the taxation under the Finance Act

Click Here to Read the rest of this document