Ranganathan, J. - (1.) These are appeals under Section 35L of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). The appellant, Tata Oil Mills Company Limited, is engaged in the manufacture of various varieties of soaps. The present dispute has arisen in relation to its factory at Ghaziabad in the State of Uttar Pradesh.
(2.) The dispute pertains to the eligibility of the appellant to the concession granted by the Central Government under Rule 8(1) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 through notification No. 46 of 1972, subsequently amended by notifications Nos. 153 of 1973 dated 24-7-73, and 25 of 1975 dated 1-3-75. Even though there are three notifications,, the point is common and both the appeals involve the same question.
(3.) The question arises this way. Ad valorem excise duty at 20% is levied on soap which falls under item 15 of the first schedule to the Act. Notification No. 46 of 1972 exempts "such soap as is made from indigenous rice bran oil or from a mixture of such oil with any other oils from so much of the duty of excise leviable thereon as is equivalent to the amount of duty calculated at the rate of one rupee and fifty paise per metric tonne of such soap for each additional percentage point increase in the use of such rice bran oil which is in excess of fifteen per cent of the total oils used in the manufacture of such soap." To put it in simpler words, the notification intends to grant a concession where the percentage of the rice bran oil used in the manufacture of soap exceeds fifteen per cent of the total oil consumption in the manufacture. The extent of exemption is graded according to the percentage of rice bran oil in, excess of fifteen per cent. For example, if the rice bran oil is twenty per cent of the total oils used in the manufacture, the duty exemption will be Rs. 7.50 per metric tonne of soap manufactured. The 1973 notification is on the same lines with the only difference that the duty exemption per metric tonne is Rs. 7.50 instead of Rs. 1.50. The notification of 1975 raised the percentage of rice bran oil referred to in the 1972 notification from fifteen percent to twenty five per cent but reduced the duty rebate from Rs. 7.50 to Rs. 3.50 per metric tonne. Another notification No. 118/75 has been referred to in the papers before us but it has no relevance to the question that falls to be decided here and is left out of account.;