Procedural certificate delay does not defeat substantive exemption where underlying eligibility under Notification No. 108/95-C.E. is otherwise established.

A procedural requirement for producing the exemption certificate under Notification No. 108/95-C.E. was treated as directory rather than substantive, so belated production did not by itself defeat the exemption claim where the supplies were otherwise shown to be for a World Bank-funded project approved by the Government of India. On that basis, the applicants were found entitled to waiver of pre-deposit and stay, and interim relief was granted allowing the appeal to proceed without pre-deposit.

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Issues: Whether the applicants were entitled to waiver of pre-deposit and stay, notwithstanding the belated production of the certificate required for exemption under Notification No. 108/95-C.E.

Analysis: The dispute turned on whether late production of the certificate issued by the competent authority could defeat the exemption claim. The record showed that the goods were supplied to a World Bank funded project approved by the Government of India, and the required certificate was produced at the stage of quantification after the goods had already been cleared under the applicants' bona fide understanding that the goods were not excisable. The notification condition regarding production of the certificate was treated as procedural, and late filing by itself was not treated as a ground to deny the exemption where the substantive requirement was otherwise satisfied.

Conclusion: The applicants were entitled to waiver of pre-deposit and stay, and the plea based solely on delayed production of the certificate was not accepted against them.

Final Conclusion: Interim relief was granted in favour of the applicants, and the appeal was permitted to proceed without pre-deposit.

Ratio Decidendi: A substantive exemption cannot be denied merely because the supporting certificate was produced belatedly, where the condition is procedural and the underlying eligibility is otherwise established.

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