Case: Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan (P) Ltd.Jhansi Vs. Excise Commissioner, U.P. &amp; Ors

2. 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 preparations 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.

Court's reasoning:
It was conceded that the preparations with which we are concerned in this case are medicinal preparations. They are proprietary medicines and that they are not capable of being consumed as ordinary alcohol i.e.ly 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 reparations 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 taxing provision, the courts should not ordinarily concern themselves with the policy behind the provision or even with itswas 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 S. 3 (1) 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.9.Our attention was invited to S. 4 of the Act in support of the contention that the legislature did not intend to levytax. 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 had 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 thattax on medicinal preparations containing alcohol was within the contemplation of the legislature 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 4. 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 S. 4 and not to others. That was the will of the Parliament. If the Parliament desired to give rebate only in certain cases 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 M/s. Pharm Products Ltd. Thanjavur v. Dist. Rev. Officer, Thanjavur, AIR 1969 Mad 448  . The conclusion reached by that High Court accords with our conclusion.