Independent construction of tax exemption clauses prevents cumulative conditions from denying relief under a notification.

A notification granting tax relief through separately worded clauses must be construed clause by clause, because each clause operates independently on its own subject-matter and cannot be read as requiring cumulative satisfaction of the others. On that interpretation, an assessee who received full rebate on sale of kraft paper and paid entry tax at the prescribed rate fell within clause (iii). The Tribunal's approach of treating all four clauses as jointly applicable was rejected, and State development tax was held not leviable under the relevant exemption provision, with the levy set aside in favour of the assessee.

---

---

Issues: Whether State development tax was leviable when the assessee had been granted full rebate and claimed exemption under clause (iii) of the notification issued under section 3H(4)(d) of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Tax Act, 1948.

Analysis: The notification specified separate categories of goods in distinct clauses, each operating independently. The clauses were not required to be cumulatively satisfied. Since the assessee had been granted rebate to the full extent on the sale of kraft paper and had paid entry tax at the prescribed rate, the case fell within clause (iii). The interpretation adopted by the Tribunal, which treated all four clauses as jointly applicable, was held to be because the clauses granted different forms of relief under different statutory situations.

Conclusion: The assessee was not liable to pay State development tax under section 3H(4)(d), and the levy was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a notification grants tax relief through separately worded clauses, each clause must be construed independently according to its own subject-matter, and a benefit under one clause cannot be denied by importing cumulative conditions from the remaining clauses.

---