Rectification cannot reopen debatable issues, and a later general exemption notification cannot override a specific purchase-tax condition.

Rectification is confined to patent errors apparent on the record and cannot be used to revisit a debatable legal issue or substitute a fresh view on merits; the Tribunal's rectification order was therefore invalid. Purchase tax exemption on wheat remained subject to the special condition in the earlier section 4-B notification that the wheat be purchased from the Food Corporation of India. A later section 4-A notification dealing with sales turnover exemption for a new unit did not amend or override that specific condition. Because the wheat was bought from the open market, the exemption was unavailable and the relief claim failed.

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Issues: (i) Whether the Tribunal could rectify its appellate order in the absence of an error apparent on the face of the record. (ii) Whether exemption from purchase tax on wheat was available when the wheat was purchased from the open market instead of the Food Corporation of India, and whether a later notification under section 4-A altered the condition attached to the earlier notification under section 4-B.

Issue (i): Whether the Tribunal could rectify its appellate order in the absence of an error apparent on the face of the record.

Analysis: Rectification is confined to patent errors and cannot be used to reappreciate a disputed legal question or to reverse an order on merits. The rectification order had substituted an earlier view on a contested issue without any apparent error on the record.

Conclusion: The rectification order was invalid and was rightly set aside.

Issue (ii): Whether exemption from purchase tax on wheat was available when the wheat was purchased from the open market instead of the Food Corporation of India, and whether a later notification under section 4-A altered the condition attached to the earlier notification under section 4-B.

Analysis: The exemption from purchase tax was granted under the special notification issued under section 4-B and was subject to the condition that wheat be purchased from the Food Corporation of India. A later notification under section 4-A dealt with exemption from tax on turnover of sales by a new unit, but it did not amend or override the earlier special condition governing purchase tax relief under section 4-B. Since the purchases were made from the open market, the condition for exemption was not satisfied.

Conclusion: The assessee was not entitled to purchase tax exemption on the wheat purchased from the open market.

Final Conclusion: The exemption claim failed and the challenge to the rectification order also failed, leaving the assessee without relief.

Ratio Decidendi: A later general exemption notification cannot displace an earlier special notification that imposes a specific statutory condition, and rectification cannot be used to reopen a debatable issue in the absence of an error apparent on the face of the record.

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