A division bench of the Bombay high court has rejected a petition filed in 1986 by a company, challenging the payment of 3 per cent extra excise duty due to a mistake in the English version of a finance bill tabled in 1985.
In the bill passed by Parliament, the rate of duty payable was shown as 12 per cent ad valorem, while it was shown as 15 per cent in the Hindi version.
After the President’s assent was given on January 18, 1986, in the final bill published, the rate was shown as 15 per cent in both Hindi and English version with someone correcting the error without bringing it to the notice of the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
The court, while rejecting the petition observed, “There is no illegality attached to it. At the highest, there is an irregularity of procedure.” M/s. Garlick Engineering, manufacturers of cranes, had filed a petition seeking orders directing the government and Speaker of Lok Sabha to issue a notification under the provisions of Central Excise Rules, 1944 and maintain the effective rate of duty of excise on the goods “Cranes” at 12 per cent ad valorem. Deciding on the petition was a division bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice S.P. Davare, who referred to a Supreme Court judgment in which it was observed that legislature has the jurisdiction to control the publication of its proceedings, and to go into the question whether there has been any breach of its privileges, the legislature is vested with complete jurisdiction to carry on its proceedings in accordance with its rules of business.