Under an enactment, an excise duty of 10is levied on every 100 litres of a certain chemical produced in a factory. During inspection, it was found…

According to section 12 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, where, by any enactment now in force or hereafter to be in force, any duty of customs or excise or in the nature thereof, is leviable on any given quantity, by weight, measure or value of any goods or merchandise, then a like duty is leviable according to the same rate on any greater or less quantity. The term pro rata means in proportion to the quantity produced. It is a latin word used to describe a proportionate allocation. Thus, when a statute fixes a rate per unit, it applies proportionately to fractions of that unit, unless the statute expressly provides otherwise. In the question given, Factory A produced 350 litres in total and paid duty on only for 300 litres, leaving 50 litres unpaid. Applying section 13 of the General Clauses Act, 1879, the expression “100 litres” must be read in a manner that covers any multiple or fraction thereof. Thus, total duty to be paid would be - 35 (i.e., 350/100 X 10). Therefore, Factory A is liable to pay excise duty on the remaining 50 litres of chemical also, which amounts to 5.