Section Text
1) In the First Schedule to the - Central Excise Tariff Act, in Chapter 15, after Note 4, the following Note shall be inserted and shall be deemed to have been inserted for the period commencing on and from the 1st day of March, 1986 and ending with the 28th day of February, 2005 (both days inclusive), namely: "5. In relation to refined edible vegetable oils falling under Heading Nos.
(sic) or Headings 15.02 and 15.03, the process of refining, that is to say, any one or more of the processes, namely, treatment of crude oil with an alkali, bleaching and deodorisation, shall amount to 'manufacture'.".
(2) Any action taken or anything done or purported to have been taken or done at any time during the period commencing on and from the 1st day of March, 1986 arid ending with the 28th day of February, 2005 (both days inclusive) (hereafter in this section referred to as the said period) under the Central Excise Tariff Act, shall be deemed to be, and to have always been, for all purposes, as validly and effectively taken or done as if the amendment made by sub-section (1) had been in force at all material times and, accordingly, notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, decree or order of any court, tribunal or other authority (a) all duties of excise levied, assessed or collected during the said period on any excisable goods under the Central Excise Act, shall be deemed to be and shall be deemed always to have been, as validly levied, assessed or collected as if the amendment made by sub-section (1) had been in force at all material times;
(b) no suit or other proceeding shall be instituted, maintained or continued in any court, tribunal or other authority for the refund of, and no enforcement shall be made by any court, tribunal or other authority of any decree or order directing the refund of, any such duty of excise which have been collected and which would have been validly collected if the amendment made by sub-section (1) had been in force at all material times.
(3) For the purposes of sub-section (1), the Central Government shall have and shall be deemed to have the power to amend the chapter referred to in the said sub-section with retrospective effect as if the Central Government had the power to amend the said chapter, retrospectively, at all material times.
Explanation. For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that no act or omission on the part of any person shall be punishable as an offence which would not have been so punishable if this section had not come into force