SSI exemption fails where goods bear a mark associated with another manufacturer and remain classed as identical or similar.

SSI exemption under Notification No. 1/93 was denied where the goods cleared were silencers for scooters and motorcycles of the same kind and were treated as identical or similar for the notification restriction. The assessee failed to show that the goods were technically distinct so as to fall outside the bar on use of a mark associated with another manufacturer. The mark used by the assessee continued to be associated in trade with that other manufacturer, and there was no effective transfer or public notice of any change. Decisions cited by the assessee were inapplicable because the case involved goods of the same class or nature, not radically different commodities.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to small-scale industry exemption under Notification No. 1/93 when the goods were cleared under a mark associated with another manufacturer and the goods were treated as identical or similar for the purpose of the notification.

Analysis: The goods manufactured for scooters and motorcycles were found to be silencers of the same kind and the assessee did not produce material to show that they were technically distinct in a way that would take them outside the notification restriction. The mark used by the assessee was held to be associated with another manufacturer, and the absence of any effective transfer or public notice of the change supported the conclusion that the trade continued to associate the mark with that other manufacturer. The cited decisions did not assist the assessee because the present case did not involve radically different commodities, but goods of the same class or nature.

Conclusion: The denial of SSI exemption was upheld and the appeal failed.

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