Aggregate clearances for exemption include duty-paid goods later returned, unless the notification expressly excludes them.

For an exemption notification based on aggregate clearances for home consumption, goods lawfully cleared on payment of duty remained includible in the turnover computation even if customers later returned them. The notification applied only where the relevant aggregate value of specified goods did not exceed the prescribed limit, and it did not expressly permit exclusion of returned goods. Refund of duty under the rules did not alter the character of those clearances as home-consumption clearances. On that basis, the returned goods could not be deducted from aggregate clearances, and the exemption was unavailable.

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Issues: Whether the value of goods cleared for home consumption and later returned by customers could be excluded while computing the aggregate clearances for eligibility under the exemption notification.

Analysis: The notification granted exemption only where the aggregate value of specified goods cleared for home consumption during the relevant period did not exceed the prescribed limit. Goods cleared after observance of the prescribed procedure and payment of duty were treated as having been taken into consumption. The scheme of the notification did not provide for exclusion of returned goods, save for the exclusions expressly indicated, and the fact that goods were later returned and duty was refunded under the rules did not alter their character as clearances for home consumption. Even on the appellant's own case, exclusion of the returned goods for the relevant period would not bring the aggregate below the prescribed limit.

Conclusion: The value of returned goods was not deductible from the aggregate value of clearances for home consumption, and the assessee was not entitled to the exemption.

Ratio Decidendi: For purposes of an exemption notification based on aggregate clearances for home consumption, goods lawfully cleared on payment of duty remain includible in the turnover computation even if they are subsequently returned by customers, unless the notification expressly provides otherwise.

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