JUDGMENT 1. - The litigation in the above four writ petitions is between the came parties, namely-M/s Hindustan Copper Ltd. Khetri Copper Complex Khetri Nagar (Jhunjhunu) (for short petitioner company) and the State of Rajasthan and others and a question in each of them is as to whether any excise duty can be charged on the rectified spirit imported by the petitioner company. Therefore, all the above four writ petitions are being disposed of by this common order. 2. The Government of India Ministry of Industry, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, has been making ad hoc inter-State allocation of Alcohol for potable and industrial use from year to year and the petitioner company has imported rectified spirit from year to year for industrial use. The non-petitioner No. 3 is demanding excise duty on the imported rectified spirit on the ground that it is an excisable article within the meaning of Section 3(4) of the Rajasthan Excise Act, 1950 (for short, the Act) and though in the above writ petitions the period of allocation is different but as stated earlier the issue involved in all the above four writ petition, is identical, whether any excise duty under the provisions of the Act can he charged on rectified spirit imported for industrial use. It will be convenient to give facts of the first of the four writ petitions namely Writ Petition No. 1669/84. The petitioner company is engaged in the mining operations and manufacture of copper and other bye-products. It has a complex known a' Khetri Copper Complex at Khetrinagar where amongst other plants the company has its Refinery plant also. In the aforesaid Refinery plant the company is using rectified spirit for stripping operation of pure copper starting sheets. Rectified spirit as aforesaid is used for purely industrial purposes and is not at all used or meant for human consumption. The rectified spirit is being purchased by the petitioner company from M/s Damala Sugar Works UP as the basis of permit issued by the Government of India and on the basis of allocations made as aforesaid from year to year. The petitioner company for the purpose of industrial use is procuring 20,000 litres of rectified 'spirit on the basis of the permit granted by the Government of India. As the rectified spirit is not being imported for human consumption, it is not excisable article. The petitioner company for the purpose of industrial use is procuring 20,000 litres of rectified 'spirit on the basis of the permit granted by the Government of India. As the rectified spirit is not being imported for human consumption, it is not excisable article. The District Excise Officer (Rural) Jaipur vide his notice dated 12.6.1984 called upon the petitioner Company to deposit a sum of Rs. 4,24,054.75 towards the payment of the excise duty for the rectified spirit within a period of 10 days failing which it was stated that recovery of the said amount would be effected in accordance with the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956. The petitioner company replied that it has taken steps to make representation to tie State Government and the Excise Commissioner and it was requested that the demand notice be kept in observance till these authorities take a decision on the matter. The District Excise Officer (Rural) Jaipur sent a notice to the petitioner company under Section 229 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956, on September 24. 1984 for effecting recovery of the aforesaid amount. By this notice the petitioner company was called upon to make the payment within 15 days of the receipt of the notice. In the return filed by the non-petitioner No. 3 a case has been set up that within the meaning of definition excisable article' under Section 3(4) of the Act all spirit fermented liquor or any alcoholic liquor for human consumption or denatured spirit or denatured spirituous preparation is excisable article and whether the spirit is for human consumption or otherwise it is included in Section 3( ) of the Act. Thus, the case of the non petitioner is that even if -spirit' is unfit for human consumption it will be excisable article. As per the case of the non-petitioners the petitioner company is liable to pay excise duty on the rectified spirit even if it bong imported by therm purely for industrial purposes. It is also the case that the non-petitioners are not duty bond to issue the permit. 3. As per the case of the non-petitioners the petitioner company is liable to pay excise duty on the rectified spirit even if it bong imported by therm purely for industrial purposes. It is also the case that the non-petitioners are not duty bond to issue the permit. 3. It may be stated that in Writ Petition No. 4557/88 the two notifications dated March 30, 1977 and April 10, 1982 are under challenge and the case of the petitioner company is that the aforesaid notification in so far as the imposition of excise duty is concerned they are violative of the provisions of the Constitution, as under Entry 51 of List 11 (State List) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, the State can only impose excise duty on the articles fit for human consumption and that too they are not for medical preparations. It is only the Central Legislature which can impose duty tinder alcoholic liquor which are not fit for human consumption and in other words the competence of the State Government to issue the aforesaid notifications has been questioned. 4. We have given our due consideration to the arguments advanced before us the learned counsel for the parties. It may be stated at the very outset that there is no dispute between the parties that unless, water is added, it is not rendered fit for human consumption, and cannot be used for human consumption. This Court and other courts had the occasion to examine this question and there is unamity amongst the courts that so far as rectified spirit is concerned, it is not alcoholic liquor for human consumption and therefore the State Legislature is not competent to impose and levy any excise duty on it. In this connection, a reference is made to the case of J. C. Synthetics Ltd. Kota v. State of Rajasthan 1976 RLW 338 . In that case the court was dealing with methyl alcohol. The court said that methyl alcohol or methanol is a poison and in no case it can be considered a beverage meant for human consumption. At the stage of its manufacture it is poison and therefore the State legislature has no right to impose any excise duty, notwithstanding the fact that by some process, the methyl alcohol can be turned into an alcoholic liquor consumable by human beings. At the stage of its manufacture it is poison and therefore the State legislature has no right to impose any excise duty, notwithstanding the fact that by some process, the methyl alcohol can be turned into an alcoholic liquor consumable by human beings. In the case of M/s. Sona Distilleries Ltd Albar and ors v. Excise Commissioner Rajasthan and others. 1984 RLR-Page 773 though the court was dealing with some other controversy but in para No. 16 referring to the aforesaid case of M/s J. K. Synthetics, the court and that 'All that this court decided in the cited case is that methanol or methyl alcohol is not an alcoholic liquor for human consumption and therefore it is not an excisable article on which excise duty may be lawfully levied under section 28 of the Act. Relying on this authority and the unreported Bench decision of the Allahabad High Court mentioned above, one may be prepared to agree that reclined spirit undergoing further process of manufacture under the Act the Rules and the Distillery Rules, is not an alcoholic liquor for human consumption and therefore no excise duty may be lawfully levied on such spirit under Section 28 of the Act." Allahabad High Court in the case of D.C. & G. M. Co. v. Excise Commissioner, 1973 ALJ 629 was decline with the rectified spirit and said that it is not an alcoholic liquor for (human consumption and is not an excisable article under the U. P. Excise ALL 1910 No excise duty could be legally imposed upon rectified spirit. The court said that- "It is true that rectified spirit is capable of being converted into profitable liquors, which are fit for human consumption but, in our opinion the capability conversion into alcoholic liquor for human consumption' will not make the rectified spirit itself an 'alcoholic liquor for human consumption'. When it is converted. then the converted will he the alcoholic liquor for human consumption' and will be liable to excise duty at the stage of conversion. Before conversion it cannot be said to be an alcoholic liquor for human consumption". The court referred in the aforesaid case to the case of Suneeta Laboratories v. State of M. P . 1972 TLR 2058 . where also similar view was taken that the State legislature has no right to impose any excise duty thereon. Before conversion it cannot be said to be an alcoholic liquor for human consumption". The court referred in the aforesaid case to the case of Suneeta Laboratories v. State of M. P . 1972 TLR 2058 . where also similar view was taken that the State legislature has no right to impose any excise duty thereon. In the case of M/s. Mohan Mackin Breweries Ltd. Ghaziabad and another v. State of Uttar Pradesh. 1977 TLR 130 (Allahabad) another Bench of the Allahabad High Court took a similar view that rectified spirit is not an article meant for human consumption and State Legislature has no competence to impose excise duty on rectified spirit. In the case of M/s. Ajudhia Distillery Rajaka Sahaspur v. State of U. P. and another, 1980 TLR 2262 . another Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court taking the similar view said that the Excise duty tinder the U P. Excise Act cannot be lived at any prior stage of the article. The court was dealing with the case of rum and said that since the process of manufacture of rum is not complete till caramel is added to the spirit. duty is attracted only when run is manufactured and not any stage prior to manufacture of excisable article. State is not entitled to charge obscuration duty and the manufacturer is entitled to refund of amount illegally debited against advance duty. 5. It can therefore he said on the basis of the authorities of this Court as well as other courts that rectified spirit does not fall within the expression 'excisable article' in view of the provisions of Section 3(4) of the Act. 6. Mr. Sharma, learned counsel for the non-petitioners has contended that the view taken by this Court needs re consideration because there can be no dispute that 'rectified spirit' is alcohol and according to the learned counsel it will fall under the expression 'excisable article' used in Section 3(4) of the Act and therefore the Notifications have been rightly issued and are within the competence of the State legislature, Learned counsel for the non-petitioner, has referred to a Simplified Textbook of Medical Jurisprudence & Toxicology, First Edition, and to its page 698, while defining the expression alcohol the author said that in general use, the word ' alcohol' means any intoxicating drink. Of the various alcohols in common use, only ethyl alcohol are found in drinks, the latter only cheap adultrods spirits Dealing with the methyl alcohol, the author at page 699 of the said book, said that methyl alcohol also known as wood alcohol, wood spirit, wood naphtha, pyroxylic spirit or methanol, is obtained by the destructive distillation of wood or molasses. It has an action on the system similar to that of ethyl alcohol. It has a peculiarly disagreeable odour, and is used for fouling rectified spirit so as to render it non-drinkable. Referring to the text-book of Organic Chemistry by O. P. Agarwal, First Edition 1986-87, and to its page 458, learned counsel for the non-petitioner has said that though the rectified spirit contain; only 93-95% ethyl alcohol and therefore it would be fit for human consumption. Dealing with Distillation, at page 458 the author said that during the process of distillation, the alcohol obtains 90% pure and is subjected to fractional distillation and the process is known as rectification. Rectification of 94%, alcohol gives three fractions, first fraction consists mainly of low boiling liquids like acetaldehyde middle fraction contains 93-95% ethyl alcohol which is sold under the name of rectified spirit and it is commercial alcohol and the last fraction (b p 125-140 ) or fuel oil which contains water and fuel oil. Learned counsel also referred to pages 459 to 467 of' the aforesaid text hook and contended on that basis that even ethyl alcohol can be used for drinking purposes and it is lawful to tax the same in the form of excise duty. A look at page 460 of that book will show that ethyl alcohol used for industrial purpose is duty free, so the industrial alcohol can be used for drinking purposes. In order to make industrial alcohol (rectified spirit) unit for drinking purposes it is denatured by mining some poisonous substances like methanol, pyridine, acetone, etc. Such alcohol (denatue is known as methylated spirit. Thus, it is it mixture of rectified spirit (85-90%) and methyl alcohol (10-15%). The contention of the learned counsel for the non-petitioners is that because rectified spirit is nothing but it contains 93-95% ethyl alcohol and it can be used even without water therefore, it can be taxed. In our opinion, the above contention of the learned counsel for the non-petitioners has no force. The contention of the learned counsel for the non-petitioners is that because rectified spirit is nothing but it contains 93-95% ethyl alcohol and it can be used even without water therefore, it can be taxed. In our opinion, the above contention of the learned counsel for the non-petitioners has no force. The reason is that as stated earlier, it is at the stage of manufacture that the excise, duty can be and is leviable and only such rectified spirit which is alcoholic liquor fit for human consumption, can be excisable article within the expression of Section 3(4) of the Act and the State legislature can only be competent to impose and levy duty under Section 28 of the Act in view of entry 51 (a) of List 11 (State List) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, and it may be stated that rectified spirit is also alcohol which is not meant for human consumption and no excise duty can be charged by the State Government under the aforesaid entry of List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India and it is beyond the competence of the State legislature. 7. Consequently, we hereby allow all these writ petitions and bold that rectified spirit which is being imported by the petitioner company for industrial use is not excisable article within the meaning of Section 3 (4) of the Act and the State legislature, or for that matter, the State Government has no power to impose and levy excise duty on the rectified spirit. The notifications referred to earlier, in SO far as imposition of excise duty on the rectified spirit are concerned, are hereby quashed. If any excise duty has been paid by the petitioner company, the same shall be refunded to it on the petitioner company's application having been made in that behalf. Costs made easy.Petition allowed. *******