Excise exemption option once exercised cannot be withdrawn mid-year by changing the brand name of the same goods.

An exemption notification requiring a manufacturer to exercise an option in writing before the first clearance and barring withdrawal during the financial year prevents a mid-year switch to another exemption for the same goods. A change in brand name does not make the goods different where they remain the same goods for exemption purposes. The attempted shift from one excise exemption notification to another was therefore impermissible, and the claim to the later benefit was rejected.

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Issues: Whether a manufacturer, having exercised the option to avail exemption under Notification No. 9/99-C.E. for goods cleared under one brand name, could withdraw from that option during the same financial year and claim the benefit of Notification No. 8/99-C.E. for the same goods under a different brand name.

Analysis: The condition attached to Notification No. 9/99-C.E. required the manufacturer to exercise the option in writing before the first clearance of the specified goods and prohibited withdrawal of that option during the remaining part of the financial year. The goods cleared under the two brand names were found to be the same goods, and a mere change in brand name did not make them different goods. Since the option once exercised could not be withdrawn mid-year, the attempt to switch to another exemption notification for the same goods was impermissible.

Conclusion: The claim to avail Notification No. 8/99-C.E. during the financial year after opting for Notification No. 9/99-C.E. was rejected, and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification expressly bars withdrawal of an exercised option during the financial year, the assessee cannot circumvent that bar by altering the brand name of the same goods and claiming another exemption notification for the same goods.

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