Small scale industry exemption eligibility can be raised at the appellate stage, leading to remand for fresh adjudication.

Eligibility to small scale industry exemption was treated as a question of law that could be raised while proceedings remained pending, and the original adjudication was incomplete because that issue had not been examined. The matter was therefore remanded for fresh consideration by the original authority, with an opportunity for the party to present its case on the exemption claim.

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Issues: Whether the eligibility to small scale industry exemption under the relevant notification could be raised at the appellate stage and whether the matter required remand for fresh consideration of that issue.

Analysis: The issue of eligibility to small scale industry exemption was treated as a question of law capable of being raised at any stage while the proceedings remained pending. Since the adjudicating authority had not examined that aspect, the existing order was found incomplete on the exemption question. The matter therefore required reconsideration by the original authority, with an opportunity to the party to place its case on that issue.

Conclusion: The eligibility to the small scale industry exemption was held to be open for consideration and the matter was remanded for fresh adjudication on that question.

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