By Vijay Kumar

The crucial dispute whether excise duty was payable or not would be between the plaintiff-company, and the Union of India and the Collector of Central Excise, with which the defendant-company had nothing to do. For the determination of that dispute, the defendant-company would be merely pro forma. The defendant-company would also be merely pro forma in case the Central Government admitted in the written statement that the defendant-company had paid the excise duty to them - HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA