- (1.) THE petitioners in this bunch of 26 writ petitions viz. Civil Writ Petition Nos. 10438 of 1989, 7263 of 1991, 12156, 5839, 5960, 5979, 5990, 6013, 6024, 6025, 6026, 6027, 6029, 6030,' 6031, 6032,6045, 6046,6227,6372, 6442,6471,6950,7384,7551 and 8555 of 1992, claim that they are manufacturing pipes from strips and flats and not bars. Consequently, they claim that they are not liable to apply for a licence under the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 or to pay excise duty. The respondents dispute this and claim that the petitioners are manufacturing the pipes from bars and are thus liable to pay the excise duty. The record of the case is fairly sizable. However, the point that arises for consideration is short viz. Are the petitioners manufacturing pipes from bars and thus liable to pay excise duty? Can this question be determined in a writ petition? Learned counsel for the parties have referred to the facts as averred in Civil Writ Petition No. 10438 of 1989 only. These may be briefly noticed.
(2.) THE petitioner is a private Limited Company. It has set up a small Scale Unit for the manufacture of "conduit pipes with Electrical Resistance Welding Process. . . ". It is averred that the petitioner manufactures pipes by using Hot Rolled Strips/ flats which it purchases from different mills situated at Mandi Gobindgarh. The strips/flats are passed through rollers which give them a round shape and when passed through welding units, the finished product called the conduit pipes, is produced. It is the case of the petitioner that it uses strips' flats having a thickness of less than 3 mm. and a width of 75 mm. to 182 mm. The Unit came into production on May 27,1988.
(3.) ON August 9, 1989, respondent No. 3, the Superintendent, Central Excise Range I, Patiala, visited the factory premises of the petitioner. He passed an order on the same day which reads as under : "please refer to my visit in your unit on 9-8-1989. You are hereby requested to apply for C. E. Licence immediately, as goods manufactures by you do not enjoy exemption under Notification No. 202/88 dated 20-5-1988. You should clear the final product from your factory after -paying duty at appropriate rates. ";