Appeal No 1924 of 1970
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated April 28 1970 of the Allahabad High Court in Special Appeal No 368 of 1970
section V Gupte and Sobhagmal Jain for the appellant 0
P Rana and R Bana for the respondents
591 The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Hegde J
In this appeal by special leave the true ambit of item 1 in the Schedule to the to be hereinafter referred to as the Act read with section 31 of that Act comes up for consideration
The appellant is a manufacturer of certain medicines with the aid of substances like tincture spirit etc
The tincture and spirit in their turn contain alcohol
The Superintendent of Excise called upon the appellant to pay duty under the Act on the medicinal preparation on the ground that they contain alcohol
The appellant resisted the demand on the ground that the medicines in question were not prepared by adding pure alcohol the fact that the tincture which is a component of that preparation contains alcohol does not make it a preparation containing alcohol
That contention was rejected by the Superintendent of Excise as well as by the High Court in the Writ petition brought by the appellant
It is admitted that alcohol though it was not directly added is a component of the medicinal preparations in question
The alcohol has not undergone any chemical change into some other substance
It is present in a liquid form in those preparations
The question for decision is whether the preparation in question do not attract duty because alcohol was not directly added to the solution
The contention of the appellant is that unless alcohol is added into the preparation in its free condition a medicinal preparation does not become dutiable
For deciding this question we may now read the relevant provisions of the Act
Section 31 of the Act says There shall be levied duties of excise at the rates specified in the Schedule on all dutiable goods manufactured in India Dutiable goods is defined in section 2c as meaning the medicinal and toilet preparations specified in the Schedule as being subject to the duties of excise levied under this Act Medicinal Preparation is defined in section 2g in these words   medicinal preparation includes all drugs which are a remedy or prescription prepared for internal or external use of human beings or animals and all substances intended to be used for or in the treatment mitigation or prevention of disease in human beings or animals
 5 9 2 Item 1 of the Schedule the only item with which we are concerned in this case reads as follows  Item No Description of Dutiable goods Rate of Duty Medicinal preparation
Medicinal preparations being patent or Ten proprietary medicines containing alcohol Percent and which are not capable of being ab valouem consumed as ordinary alcoholic beverages
The only other provision which we need consider is section 4 of the Act
That section reads thus  Where alcohol opium Indian hemp or other narcotic drug or narcotic had been supplied to a manufacturer of any suitable goods for use as an ingredient of such goods by or under the authority of the collecting Government and a duty of excise on the goods so supplied had already been recovered by such Government under any law for the time being in force the collecting Government shall on an application being made to it in this behalf grant in respect of the duty of excise leviable under this Act a rebate to such manufacturer of the excess if any of the duty so recovered over the duty leviable under this Act
 It was conceded that the preparations with which we are con cerned in this case are medicinal preparations
They are proprietary medicines and that they are not capable of being consumed as ordinary alcohol beverages
The only question that has to be decided is whether those preparations contain alcohol
It is admitted that tincture is a component of that preparation and alcohol is a component of tincture
Therefore we fail to see how it can be urged that those preparations do not contain alcohol
In order to attract duty all that is required is that a medicinal preparation should contain alcohol
Alcohol may be a part of the preparation either because it is directly added to the solution or it came to be included in that medicinal preparation because of one of the components of that preparation contained alcohol
According to the plain language of the provision all that is required is that the preparation should contain alcohol
In interpreting a tax ing provision the courts should not ordinarily concern themselves with the policy behind the provision or even with its impact
As observed by Rowlatt J in Cape Brandy Syndicate vs Commissioners of Inland Revenue1 in a taxing Act one has to look at 1 593 what is clearly said
There is no room for any intendment
There is no equity about a tax
There is no presumption as to a tax
Nothing is to be read in nothing is to be implied
One can only look fairly at the language used
It was urged on behalf of the appellant that if we hold that even indirect introduction of alcohol into a medicinal preparation brings that preparation within the scope of section 31 of the Act it would mean multipoint taxation
Coming to the medicinal preparations with which we are concerned in this case it was urged that if the view taken by the High Court is correct then first the tincture used became dutiable and thereafter the medicinal preparations in which tincture was used became dutiable
It was said that that could not be the intention of the parliament
We are unable to appreciate this contention
Multipoint taxation is not unknown to us
Our attention was invited to section 4 of the Act in support of the Contention that the legislature did not intend to levy multi point tax
Section 4 provides for rebate of duty on alcohol supplied to the manufacturer of dutiable goods for use as an ingredient of such goods by or under the authority of the collecting government and a duty of excise on goods so supplied bad already been recovered by such Government under any law for the time being in force
In our opinion this provision instead of supporting the appellant goes to show that multi point tax on medicinal preparations containing alcohol was within the contemplation of the leigslature otherwise there was no purpose in incorporating section 4 into the Act
if section 3 did not impose any levy on medicinal preparations of which pure alcohol is not a component there was no need for section I
There can be no question of any rebate if there was no levy at all
Every rebate presupposes an imposition of tax or duty
But the rebate under section 4 is confined only to those goods which directly come within the scope of section 4 and not to others
That was the will of Parliament
If Parliament desired to give rebate only in certain cases and not to others it cannot be said that as regards the other medicinal preparations there can be no levy
In our judgment the language of the provision imposing the levy is plain and unambiguous
It imposes duty on all medicinal preparations containing alcohol
At the hearing our attention was invited to the decision of the Madras High Court in Ms Pharm Products Ltd Thanjavur  ors
vs Dist
Rev Officer1
The conclusion reached by that High Court accords with our conclusion
In the result this appeal fails and the same is dismissed with costs
VPS Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The appellant is a manufacturer of certain medicines with the aid of substances like tincture spirit etc which contain alcohol
On the question whether he was liable to pay duty under the Medicinal and Toilet Preparation Excise Duties Act 1955 HELD  1 The preparations are proprietary medicinal preparations and are not capable of being consumed as ordinary alcohol beverages According to Item 1 of the Schedule to the Act in order to attract duty all that is required is that the medicinal preparation should contain alcohol
Alcohol may be a part of the preparation either because it is directly added to the solution or it came to be included in the medicinal preparation because one of its components contains alcohol
592 E G 2It may be that a tincture is dutiable under the item and when the medicinal preparation in which it was used is also made dutiable it will involve multi point taxation
But section 4 of the Act shows that the multi point tax on medicinal preparations containing alcohol was within the contemplation of the Legislature
That section provides for rebate of duty on alcohol supplied to the manufacturer of dutiable goods and every rebate pressupposes imposition of tax or duty
593 B F 3 The rebate under section 4 is confined only to those goods which directly come within the scope of section 4 and not to others
From such a provision it cannot be said that as regard the other medicinal preparations there can be no levy when the language of the provision imposing the levy is plain and unambiguous
593 F G Ms 
Pharm Products Ltd Thanjavur vs District Revenue Officer  approved
Cape Brandy Syndicate vs Commissioners of Inland Revenue  referred to