AMCO BATTERIES P LTD Vs. ASSISTANT COLLECTOR CENTRAL EXCISE AND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this petition, under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner prays for a Writ of Certiorari, or any other appropriate Writ or Order, quashing the levy made by the First Respondent on 16-11-1959 as well as the Order of the Second Respondent in appeal made on 14-10-1960.

(2.) The petitioner is a Private Limited Company manufacturing Electric Batteries. The Company was started in 1955. Its factory as well as its office (both housed In the same building) is located just outside the limits of Bangalore City.

(3.) The facts found by the Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Bangalore, and affirmed by the Collector of Central Excise, Bangalore, and not disputed in the affidavit filed in this Court by the petitioner, are as follows: The petitioner (Messrs. Amco Batteries Limited, Bangalore) manufacturers Electric Storage Batteries under three trade marks, i.e. "Amco", 'Oakes' and 'Speed'. "Amco" Batteries are marketed through a network of distributors, about fourteen in number, each of whom is the sole distributor for a specified zone in India : Messrs. Addison and Company (P) Limited, Bangalore, are the distributors for the Mysore State and parts of Andhra. Messrs, Addison and Company, (P) Limited, Madras, are the distributors for the areas comprised in the old Madras State and also areas Included in the former States of Cochin and Travancore. The Addisons and Company, Bangalore and Madras consume a major portion of the output of Amco Batteries. "Oakes" Batteries are manufactured by the petitioner, solely for Messrs. George Oakes (P) Limited, Bombay. The latter market these Batteries in Bangalore through Messrs. George Oakes (P) Limited, Bangalore. Messrs, George Oakes (P) Limited, Bangalore, have their own net-work of wholesale dealers through whom they push forward their sales of "Oakes" Batteries. "Speed" Batteries were being manufactured solely for Speed-A-Way Limited, Madras, but for sometime now these Batteries have not been manufactured. For the purpose of levying excise duty, in the past, the wholesale cash prices of these Batteries were determined on the basis of the ex-factory price charged by the petitioner to its distributors. It is alleged on behalf of the petitioner and not denied by the respondents that the Ex-factory prices charged to all the distributors were and are the Game.