' SAAD SAOOD JAN, J.---This is an appeal by speical leave from the judgmnet dated 15-1-1976 of the Lahore High Court, whereby in Constitutional jurisdiction the petitions filed by the appellants were partly dismissed.
2. The appellant was manufacturer of Glazed Paper Board and Glazed Chip Board in 1971. It received notices from the Inspector, Central Excises and Land Customs, Rahwali Sector, Gujranwala Cantt. On 21-6-1971 and 11-8-1971 to pay excise duty on these products. It represented against the issuance of notices to it before the departmental authorities and challenged the legality of the levy but without any success. It then filed Constitution petitions in the High Court. These were dismissed by a learned Single Judge in so far as the said products were concerned. It has now come in appeal to this Court.
2. Under section 3, Central Excises and Salt Act, excise duty is leviable on all excisable goods produced or manufactured in Pakistan. The expression `excisable goods' has been defined in section 2(d) of the said Act to mean, `goods specified in Part I of the First Schedule to the Act'. By section 3 of Finance Ordinance of 1970 the First Schedule to the Act was replaced by a new one.
Under the new Schedule section IX of Part I read as follows: Paper and Paper Board
36. Paper, all sorts Rs,15 per cwt.
37. Paper Board, all sorts Rs,10 per cwt.
' The case of the appellant was that the Glazed Paper Board and the Glazed Chip Board which it manufactured did not fall within Section IX and for that reason these were not excisable goods. In this context, it alleged:
(i) That the items mentioned above were either products of paper or products of Paper Board and were not liable to duty, the processes carried out in the petitioner Mills did not fall within the definition of "manufacture" as given in section 2(f) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, as the Article was not manufactured in Pakistan, in the case of the imported Paper and Paper Board; and in the case of indigenous Paper and Paper Board processed in the Mills, the same having already suffered Central Excise Duty, no further Duty was leviable.
' It also referred to a judgment of this Court in Civil Petition No,275 of 1988 (Collector, Central Excise and Land Customs v. Sethi Straw Board Mills Ltd.) wherein Muhammad Afzal Zullah, CJ (as he then was) and Ajmal Mian, J., held that the Chip Board by no stretch of imagination could be described as a specie of paper.
3. After the disposal of Civil Petition No,275 of 1988, ibid, the construction of Section IX, ibid, came up for consideration before a larger Bench of this Court in Civil Appeal No,303-K of 1980 (Pakistan v.
Civil and Military Press Ltd. PLD 1991 SC 619). Although, the product under consideration in this appeal was corrugated board but the observations made were of a much larger import. Abdul Kadir Shaikh, J. (as he then was) speaking for the Court observed: "In our view, the factum that there is a different process of manufacturing of other types of paper board as compared to the corrugated board or that corrugated board has different characteristics as compared to the other kinds of board, would not be the deciding factor for determining whether corrugated board falls within the above Item No,37, which has been worded in such a way as to have widest possible connotation. The Item reads 'Paper and Paper Board all sorts'. The High Court has not taken into consideration the effect of the use of the words 'all sorts'. In this regard, it may be pertinent to refer to the ordinary and literary meanings of the above words 'all sorts of, 'all' and 'sort' in the Oxford English Dictionary, Volume 10, page 451, in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1967 Print, pages 23 and 1012, in the Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, New Edition 1983, pages 30 and 1236, in the Stroud's Judicial Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Vol.1, page 109 and Vol.5, page 2579, and in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, pages 33 and 1233, which reads as follows: ' Oxford English Dictionary. Vol.X. Page 451: ' All sorts of(things or persons), = "things or persons of all kinds or descriptions"
' The Concise Oxford Dictionarv, Seventh Edition pages 23 and 1012: ' all' (awl) a., n., & adv.1. a. Whole amount quantity, or extent of (all day; all England; all his life; and all THAT, take it all); bail, int. Of greeting (to) [Bail = health]; get away from- it (from everyday tasks and worries); stop this (this excessive) grumbling; all the TIME 9; all the WAY 3.2. Greatest (with. All speed).
3. (w.p.l.) entire number of (all men; all ten men; his children are all boys; admirals all the others); 'sort' n.1. Group of things etc. With common attributes, class, kind species, variety ' Chambers 20th Century Dictionary. New Edition. Pages 30 and 1236: 'all' adj. Comprising every individual once (e.g. All men, all roads, all instances): comprising the whole extent, etc. Of (e.g. All winter): any whatever: (preceding "the") as many as there are, or as much as there is (e.g. All the men, all the cheese;) also used following pl. Pers. Pron. For sometimes pl. n. (e.g. We all laughed, the guests all came): the greatest possible (e.g. With all haste, in all sincerity): every. -n. The whole everybody; everything; the totality of things-the universe one's whole possessions (formerly often in pl.). -adv. Wholly: entirely: quite: without limit, infinitely: on all sides: on each side, aspiece: even, just (passing into a mere intensive, as in all on a summer's day, or almost into a conjunction by omission of if or though).--In composition, infinite, infinitely: universal: completely: wholly: by all: having all for object.- Possible compounds are without limit: only a selection can be given.-- 'sort' n. a lot (in sortilege) Shak. a company, group, collection, parcel (obs.): a class, kind, or species: quality of rank: one, a specimen or instance, of a kind ' Stroud's Judicial Dictionary. Fourth Edition, Val, page 109 & Vol.5. Page 2579:
2. 'All' is equivalent to 'each and every' (see judgment of Lord Fitzgerald, Burnett v. Great North of Scotland Railway, 54 L. Q.B.539); but by a context, it may mean 'any' (1 Jarm., 8th ed., 607)........... `Sort'. 'sort,' in the expression 'kind or sort,' is probably synonymous with 'QUALITY' or 'NATURE' (see DYE).
' Then American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, pages 33 and 1233: `all' (ol) adj.
1. The total entity or extent of: all Christendom.
2. The entire or total number, amount, or quantity of: all the saints.
3. The utmost possible of: in all truth.
4. Every, Used only in phrases such as all manners, all kinds.
5. Any whatsoever: beyond all doubt.
6. Nothing but; only 'sort' (sort) n.
1. A group or collection of similar persons or things; class, kind; set.
2. The Character or nature of something; type; quality From the above-quoted definitions of the words 'all sorts of and the words 'all' and 'sort' it is evident that the word 'all' connotes the entire, the total number, amount or quantity, whereas the word 'sort' denotes inter alia class and kind and, therefore, it is apparent that the above description of Item No,37, namely, 'Paper and Paper Board all sorts' will include all kinds of Paper Boards including corrugated board particularly keeping in view even the word 'sort' has been used in plural."
' It may also be mentioned that while examining the scope of the goods to which Section IX applied the learned Bench took assistance from a passage from the judgment in appeal before us. The passage in question reads as follows: "The definition of 'manufacture' in section 2(f) of the Act, reproduced in para. 11 above, shows that it includes therein any process incidental or ancillary to the completion of a manufactured product and any process of remanufacture, remarking, reconditioning or repair and the process of packing or repacking such product. The definition of Paper Board, reproduced in para. 10 above, shows that Corrugated Paper Board, Glazed Paper Board and Glazed Chip Board would be covered by it. The processes applied to bring the above products into being clearly include the process of remaking and reconditioning the original products and, therefore, the processes applied in this behalf are covered by section 2(f) of the Act and accordingly included within the scope of 'manufacture', as visualized by section 3(1) of the Act. Moreover, as the manufactured articles fall within the category 'Paper Board, all sorts' they are covered by item 37 of the Schedule to the Act."
Considering the manner in which the learned Bench construed Section IX, it seems difficult to keep out Glazed Paper Board and Glazed Chip Board manufactured by the appellant from the definition of the expression 'excisable - goods'. It may be mentioned that we ourselves have seen a sample of the Chip Board manufactured by the appellant. In the local parlance one could describe it as gutta ( A( ). It does appear to fall in the category of Paper Board. This appeal is without any merit and is hereby dismissed with costs. revisions by the competent authorities. Therefore, it is advisable to consult the official sources or legal professionals for the most up-to-date and accurate information.