Under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 193 l, (XVIof lll31 ), the duty was leviable from February 28, 1954, by virtue of a declaration in the Bill to that effect. On the preceding day the Superintendent of Central Excise, Kanpur, deputed an Inspector of his department to obtain from the petitoner a declaration of all stock of footwear and requested that the Inspector be permitted to verify the stocks with a view to levying the Excise Duty on and from February 28, 1954. As a result of the imposition of Excise Duty on footwear the petitioner was required to pay during the remaining ten months of 1954 a sum of Rs. 9,47,630/as Bxciae Duty. The petitioner produces in the two units above-named, footwear for sale to the public and for supplies to the Government for the use of the Army and the Police. The petitioner contends that though the Excise Duty paid by it was capable of being passed on to the consumer, it could not include it in the price at which shoes were sold to the public because of heavy competition by those free from such duty, though it did include the Excise Duty in the price of the footwear supplied to Government. Thus Rs. 2 lacs o(ld were passed pn to Qoverl!merit bqt Rs. 7 lacs odd were borq~
