ORDER
K. Sreedharan, J.(President)
1. Kerala Electrical Allied Engineering Company Limited, Mamala is the appellant. They manufacture steel structures. Those structures so manufactured were sought to be exempted from payment of excise duty under Notification No. 74/93, dated 28-2-1993. This claim put forth by the appellant was rejected by the authorities below. Hence this appeal.
2. Notification No. 74/93 exempted specified goods manufactured by State Government factory intended for use by any Department of the said Government. Proviso to the said notification makes the position very clear when it states that:-
“provided that such goods are manufactured by a factory belonging to a State Government and such goods are intended for use by any Department of that Government.”
In order to claim the benefit of this notification, the goods must be manufactured by a factory belonging to a State Government.
3. The appellant’s contention is that appellant is a company owned by the State, so the goods manufactured by them must be taken as goods manufactured by the company belonging to the State Government. This argument is quite attractive, but on a closer scrutiny we find it difficult to agree with the same. It is the appellants own case that the appellant is a company registered under the Indian Companies Act. The company registered under the Companies Act is a legal person. That legal person is separate from and independent of the Government. The factory where the articles are manufactured belong to the company, a legal person independent of Government. So, when the goods are manufactured by the factory belonging to the company, which is independent of the State Government, Notification No. 74/93 mentioned above cannot have any application. The goods manufactured by the appellant company is thus outside the purview of the Notification.
In these circumstances detailed above, we find no ground in interfering with the orders passed by the authorities below. Appeal fails. Accordingly, it is dismissed.