Exemption notification interpretation favours the assessee where express conditions are met and no later exclusion is stated.

HVI spindle oil that satisfied the technical specifications of Notification No. 44/71-C.E. and was cleared under Chapter X for use in agricultural spray oil remained eligible for the concessional duty under that notification. The later notifications dealing specifically with spindle HVI oil did not, on their terms, rescind or expressly exclude the earlier concession. The governing principle applied was that exemption notifications must be construed according to their plain language, and a beneficial exemption cannot be denied where the assessee satisfies its express conditions unless a later provision clearly displaces it. The concessional rate was therefore held available.

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Issues: Whether HVI spindle oil, being a mineral oil intended for use in the manufacture of agricultural spray oil and satisfying the prescribed specifications, was entitled to concessional duty under Notification No. 44/71-C.E. despite the existence of later notifications dealing specifically with spindle HVI oil.

Analysis: The product was found to satisfy the technical conditions of the earlier exemption notification and to have been cleared under Chapter X procedure for manufacture of agricultural spray oil. The competing notifications were treated as independent exemption provisions. The governing principle applied was that exemption notifications must be construed according to their plain language, and where two exemptions are available and the assessee satisfies the more beneficial one, that benefit cannot be denied on the ground that another notification is more specific unless the later notification expressly excludes the earlier benefit. The subsequent notifications did not rescind or expressly supersede the earlier concession in a manner that displaced the assessee's entitlement.

Conclusion: HVI spindle oil remained eligible for the concessional rate under Notification No. 44/71-C.E., and the denial of that benefit was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was allowed, and the assessee was held entitled to the lower concessional duty.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessee satisfies the express terms of an exemption notification, the benefit cannot be denied by resorting to supposed intention or by preferring a different notification unless the statute or notification clearly excludes the exemption claimed.

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