Mootham, J. - (1.) These are nine petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution in which the same point of law arises. In each case the petitioner is a firm which deals in tobacco and owns a ware-house licensed under Rule 140, Central Excise Rules, 1944, for the storage of tobacco on which duty has not been paid.
(2.) On 28-2-1951, Bill No. 13 of 1951 was introduced into Parliament to give effect to the financial proposals of the Central Government for the financial year 1951-52 which commenced on 1-4-1951. Under Clause 7 of this Bill the proposed excise duty on unmanufactured tobacco, other than flue cured tobacco and tobacco used in the manufacture of cigarettes, was eight annas a pound and on tobacco used in the manufacture of biris it varied between six annas and nine annas a pound according to the quantity of tobacco used in the manufacture of a thousand biris. A declaration was included in the Bill that it was expedient in the public interest that the provisions of certain clauses thereof, including Clause 7, should have immediate effect under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931, As a consequence of this declaration the declared provisions of the Bill acquired the force of law under Section 4 (1) of the latter Act or 1-3-1951.
(3.) The Finance Act, 1951 (Act XXIII of 1951) became law on 28-4-1951, and during the period between 1-3-1951,. and that date the petitioners cleared large quantities of tobacco from their warehouses paying thereon excise duty at the rate specified in the Finance Bill. No difficulty would have arisen if the rates of excise duty on tobacco proposed in the Bill had been incorporated in the Act, for, it is common ground that the duty demanded at the time the tobacco was cleared was paid in full. The proposed rates of excise duty were not however accepted by Parliament, and in lieu thereof it was provided in Section 7 (1) of the Act that the excise duty on unmanufactured tobacco of the class with which we are here concerned, namely other than flue cured, and not ordinarily used for manufacture of (a) cigarettes or (b) smoking mixture for pipes and cigarettes, but capable of being used for the manufacture of biris, was enhanced to fourteen annas a pound while the proposed duty on tobacco used for the manufacture of biris was abandoned. The new rates were made effective by the amendment of the First Schedule to the Central Excise and Salt Act, 1944.;