 8ir no 38 of 1979 the: punjab excise (delhi amendment) bill, 1979a bill further to a~ the punjab excise act, 1914 as in force in the union territory of delhi whereas by reason of certain excisable articles not being manufactured or produced in delhi, countervailing duty is not leviable on such articles whioh are imported into delhi; and wherilas the consumption, except ilor medicinal purposes, of such articles would be injurious to health and the levy of a special duty on the importation of such articles into delhi would be an endeavour 'ilowards bringing about prohibition cf the consumption as aforesaid of such articles; be it enacted by parliament in the thirtieth year of the repuiblic of india as follows: -'  1 (1) this act may be called the punjab excise (delhi amendment) short act, 1979 tiltle and 5 (2) it shall be deemed to have come into force on the 20th day of eom-january, 1979 meneement 2 in section 3 of the punjab excise act, 1914, cis in force in the union amendterritory of delhi (hereinafter referred to as the principal act),-ment of   section 3 (a) after clause (5), the followmg clause shall be mserted and ot punjab 10 shall be deemeel always to have been inserted, namely:-act 1 of '(sa) "duty" means the excise duty or c:ountervailing duty 1914 or, as the case may be, special duty;'; (b), in clause (6),-(i) in sub-clause (b), the word "or" shall be inserted and shall be deemed always to have been inserted at the endj and (ii) after sub-clause (b), as so amended, the following sub; dause shall be inserted and shall be deemed always to have beerl j inserted, namely:- (c) any spirit;"; (c) after clause (18), the f()llowing clause shall be inserted and shall be deemed a1ways to have been inserted, namely:-'(lba) "special duty" means a tax on the import of ady id excisable article being an article on which countervailing duty as is mentioned in entry 51 of list ii in the seventh schedule to the constitution is not imposable on the ground merely that such article is not being manufactured or produced in the territory to  which this act extends;' i' 3 ln section 31 of the principal act, for the words "excise duty, or countervailing duty, as the case may be, at such rate or rates", the words, figure and letter "excise duty, or a countervailing duty, or a special duty, amend~ ment of section 31 3s the case may be, at such rate or rates not exceeding the rates set forth in schedule ia" shall be substituted and shall be deemed always to 20 have been 8ubstituted 4 in the principal act, after schedule i, the following schedule shall be inserted and shall be deemed always to have been inserted, namely:-'schedule ia insertion of new schedule ia (see section 31) rate 51 no description of excisable article (3) 30 ri 15'go per proof litre rt 117'118 per proof litre ri 15'00 per proof litre ri 13'115 per proof litre i cowilry liquor: (i) plain liquor (ii) ordinary ~piced liquor (iii) special spiced liquor (iv) plain wh~n iaued to troops (v) spiced liquor including lpecial liquor when uued to troopa 35 ri is'7s per proof litre ri 6'00 per proof litre ri i 3' 110 per proof litre ri iii' 00 per proof htre lb s'85 per proof litre ri ii' 00 per litre ri 11'00 per litre 45 re o' 50 per bottle of 650 ml ri 5'00 per bottle of 650 mi iz indian made rum iau~ to troops 3 rectified spirit or absolute alcohol 4 all other iorta of liquor including indian made foreign liquor except denatured ipirit and apedal denatured apirit 5 spirituous preparations including cnt'nce but other thad medicinal and toilet preparation as defidcd in tb~ medicinal and toilet preparationa (ejccile dutiel) act, 1955 (16 of 1955) 6 denatured ~pirit  7 special dcd&tur~ ipiri! 8 indian beer contalninr 5 per cent or l~ alcohol v/v 9 indian beer containing alcohol more than 5 per cent v/v 10 cider ri so' 00 per 10 kgs or part thereof jr 1jhang re 1'00 per bottle of 6~o ml so iii any other intoxicating drug other than thole mentioned above r • so·oo per kg e:q>lanation-in this schedule, "proof litre" means litre of the strength of london proof' 5 in the principal act, in schedule la, as directed to be inserted by sect jon 4, for the entry in column (2) against seria] number 2, the follow  fng entry shall be substituted and shall be deemed to have been so substituted with effect from the 50th day of july, 1972, namely:-amendment of new schedule ia s "indian made rum ;ssued to tl'ioops and the personnel of the border security force" 6 notwithstanding any judgment, decree or order of any court 'or validation other authority, anything ~r any action dj()ne or taken or purported to have been done or taken under the principal act before the commence-10 mcnt of this act shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, as valid and effective as if such thing or action had been done 'or taken under the principal act, as amended by this act, and accordingly:-[5 (a) any duty tax or fee levied, assessed or collected or purporting to have been levied, assessed or collected under the principal act before the c'()mmencement of this act shall be deemed to have be~n validly levied, assessed or collected in accordance with law; 20 (b) no suit or other proceeding shall be maintained or continued in any court or before any authority for the i'('fund, and no enforcement shan be made by any court or other authority of any decree or order directing the refund, of any such duty, tax or fee which has· been so collected; (c) recoveries shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the principal act of all amounts which would have been collected as duties, taxes or fees under the principal act by reason of the amendments made in the principal act by this act but which had not been collected explanation-for the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that no act or omission 'on the part of any person before the commencement of this act shall be punishable as an offence which would not have been 30 so punishable if this act had not been enacted, ordl of 1979 1 (1) the punjab excise (delhi amendment) ordinance, 1979, is hereby repealed repeal and saving (2) notwithstandin~ such repeal, anythin~ done or any action taken under the principal act as amended by the said ordinance shall be deemed 35 to have been done or taken under the principal act as amended by thi!, at1;· section 31 of the punjab excise act, 1914, as extended to the union territory of delhi provides for the levy of an excise duty or a countervailing duty at such rate or rates, as the administrator shall direct, on any excisable article including alcoholic liquor for human consumption a single beneh of the high court of delhi decided a batch of writ petitions on th~ 11th january, 1979 by delivering a judgment restraining the delhi administration from levying and collecting "countervailing duty" in respect of country liquor removed from the bonded warehouses licensed in delhi (for sale by the petitioners)-till such time the factual f-oundation for the levy and collection of countervailing duty under the said section does not exist within the union territory of delhi the high court relied upon the observations of the supreme court in kaly~m- stores vs state of orissa and ot~ts (air 1966 sc 1686) and held that no countervailing duty could be imposed on imported articles, and· articles similar to those which are not produced or manufactured within delhi 2 the effects of the judgment as envisaged by the delhi administration would be a loss of rs 7 crores in the current year and more than rs 75 crores on the refund of the levy from 1950 onwards on country liquor alone this loss will be manifold if the same principles are applied to levy on other types of liquor besides the heavy losses of revenue, refund of the duties collected earlier would enable the licensees to reap win~al1 benefits of the portion of the duty already borqe by the consumers 3 since the matter was of urgent importance and to ott-set immediate repercussions, the punjab excise (delhi amendment) ordinance, 1979 was promulgated by the president on the 20th january, 1979 this ordinance has amended suitably sections 3 and 31 of the punjab excise act, 1914 as in force in the union territory of delhi not only to validate duties levied in the past but also to empower collection of such duties in future section 3 has also amended the definition of excisable article so as to include within its scope spirit in order to validate duties levied in the past and also to empower collection of such duties in respect of spirit section 31 of the act does not specify the -ceiling ill respect ot the duty which could be impesed on any excisable article new schedule ia has been added to the act so as to empower t~e lieutenant governor of delhi to impose on any excisable article duty at such rate as not exceeding the maximum specified in the schedule 4 the bill seeks to replace the above ordinance new deljn; satish agarwal the 10th march, 1979 clause 3 oil the pudjab exdse (delhi amendnaent) bill, 1979, seeks to amend sectiqil 3\ of tbe puniah excise act, 1914, m \d force in the union territory of delhi so as to empower the lieutenant governor to impose a duty on any excisable article at such rate or rates not exceeding the r~te::i:s~t ferth in new sched41e lao as the ma"im~rates have been specified, the delegation of legislative power is of a ll(u:lpal clw'm:ter - - - - - definitions 3 in this act, and the rules made under it, unless there is something regugnant in the subject or context-- - - - - (6) 'excisable article' means-- - - - - (b) any intoxicating drug; - - - - - duty on excisable articles 31 an excise duty, or countervailing duty, as the case may be, at such rate or rates as the lieutenant governor of delhi shall direct, may be imposed, either generally or hr any specified local area, on any excisable article-(a) imported, exported or transported in accordance with the provisions of section 16; or (b) manufactured or cultivated under any licence granted under sectijon 20; or (c) manufactured in any distillery established or any distillery or brewery licensed under section 21: provided as follows:-(i) duty shall not be so imposed on any article which has been imported into india and was liable on importation to duty under the indian tariff act, 1894 or the sea customs act, 1878; - - - - - explanation: -duty may be imposo:!d under this section at different rates according to the places to which any excisable article is' to be removed for consumption or according to the varying strengths and quality of such article - - - - - j bill :further to amend the punjab excise act, 1914 as in force in the union territory of, delhi (shfi satish agarwal, minister of state in the ministry of finance) 