AJAY KUMAR MITTAL, J.

1. This order shall dispose of a bunch of seven petitions bearing CWP Nos.12920-12923, 12926 and 23300 of 2016 and 7860 of 2017 as according to learned counsel for the parties, similar issues arise for consideration in these petitions. For brevity, the facts are being extracted from CWP-12920-2016.

2. In CWP-12920-2016 filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for issuance of a writ of in the nature of certiorari for quashing the order-in-original dated 17.5.2016 (Annexure P-1) passed by respondent No.2.

3. A few facts necessary for adjudication of the instant writ petition as narrated therein may be noticed. The petitioner is registered with the Central Excise Authorities for manufacture of menthol, Dementholised Oil (DMO) and Deterpenated Fractionated Menthol Oil (DFMO) besides other items and is located in Gangyal Industrial Area, Jammu. Notification dated 14.11.2002 confers area based exemption from payment of duty under the Central Excise Act, 1944 (in short “the Act”). The petitioner's manufacturing unit was also entitled to the said exemption. As per the said notification, the units entitled to exemption ther