S.C.Deb, J. - (1.) This rule, under article 226 of the Constitution, was directed against Order No. 473 of 1973 passed by respondent No. 1 rejecting the revision application filed by the petitioner under the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944.
(2.) Licence No. 6 was granted to the petitioner under Rule 192 of the Central Excise Rules. Under the said licence the petitioner was entitled to purchase from the manufacturers Benzol, Toluene, Naptha, etc. without paying any duty on those goods for being used by the petitioner in the manufacture of Thinners. The said licence expired on December 31, 1968. It was a renewable licence and the petitioner applied for its renewal on November 9, 1968. Certificate No. C.T. 2, which was issued to the petitioner under Rule 156 by the Excise authorities, was withdrawn from the petitioner by the Excise authorities on January 10, 1969.
(3.) The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner had to purchase certain quantities of those goods from Indian Iron and Steel Ltd. and Hindustan Steel Ltd. and had to pay them Excise duty along with the price of those goods because the petitioner's said licence was not then renewed and its said certificate was withdrawn by the Excise authorities. Thereafter, the said licence was renewed for the year 1969 and accordingly the petitioner filed an application before the Assistant Collector of Central Excise for refund of duty. The said application was rejected on the ground that the duty was paid not by the petitioner but by those two companies to the Excise authorities. An appeal filed by the petitioner was also dismissed. Thereafter, the petitioner filed a revision application before the Central Government which was rejected by the aforesaid impugned order. Hence, this Rule was issued at the instance of the petitioner.;