Sinha, J. - (1.) The facts in this case are shortly as follows: The petitioner is a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act. The petitioner is the owner inter alia of a factory for the production of aluminium at Jayakanagar in the district of Burdwan. The said factory has a power house used for generating electricity. Adjacent to the factory the petitioner has a colliery known as the Jaykaynagar Colliery. The distance between the pithead of the colliery and the power house of the factory, is about one (urlong. The colliery has; an average annual output of seventy-five to eighty thousand tons of coal. It is stated that about 50,000 tons are consumed in the said power house for generation of electricity used in the factory for production of aluminium. The coal comes up from the shafts to the pithead and is taken by means of hand trolleys to the power house. Thus, the major portion of the output is consumed in the factory, the balance being sold to railways and others. To take an example, in the year 1953-54 the net raisings were 70,865 tons of which the factory consumed 54,169 tons and the balance was sold to the railways and others.
(2.) The Coal Mines (Conservation and Safety) Act 1952 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) being Act No. XII of 1952, is a Central Act the object of which is to provide for the conservation of. coal and to make provision for safety in coal mines. The Act extends to the whole of India excepting the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Section 8 of the Act empowers the Central Government to impose excise duties. The relevant part of Section 8 is quoted below : "8. Imposition of excise duties. (1) With effect from such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint, there shall be levied and collected- (a) on all coal raised and despatched, and on all coke manufactured and despatched, from the collieries in India, such duty of excise not exceeding one rupee per ton as may be fixed from time to time by the Central Government by notification in the official Gazette, and different rates of duty may be levied on different grades or description of coal or coke.....".
(3.) Section 10 lays down that the duties of excise levied under Section 8 shall be collected by such agencies and in such manner as may be prescribed. Section 17 grants power to the Central Government to make rules by notification in the official Gazette, for carrying out the purposes of the Act. Rules may be made for the levy, collection and payment of the duties of excise. In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 17, rules have been prescribed by the Central Government, known as the Coal Mines (Conservation and Safety) Rules, published under Notification No. SRO 3146 dated 25th September, 1954. Chapter y of the said Rules, deals' with the levy and collection of excise duties. Rule 24 deals with the method of recovery of the duties of excise imposed under Section 8 of the Act on coal and coke. Chapter VII of the said Rules lays down the procedure for the grant of assistance. Under the Act, a Board may be appointed and by these Rules the Board may grant assistance from the funds raised by the imposition of the excise and custom duties, to any owner, agent or Manager of coal mine, for the purposes stated therein. It has, however, a discretion in granting such assistance, payment of which is not compulsory. On or about the 4th of November, 1954 the petitioner received a letter from the Deputy Secretary of the Coal Board, the office of which is situate at 1, Council House Street, Calcutta, a copy whereof is annexed to the petition and marked with the letter 'B'. The letter inter alia stated as follows : "I am directed to state that in accordance with the Coal Mines (Conservation and Safety) Rules framed under the Coal Mines (Conservation and Safety) Act 1952 the duty of excise is also to be collected on coal or coke despatched by means other than rail, namely, road, river and air etc. with effect from 26th September 1954, the date of the issue of the Rules in the Gazette of India. An extract from these Rules is enclosed herewith for your information.";