Exemption notification election: assessee may choose the more beneficial scheme absent any express or implied bar.

Where two exemption notifications cover the same goods, an assessee may choose the notification that grants greater relief unless the scheme expressly or impliedly bars that election. The notification relied on by the Department did not prevent recourse to the later exemption scheme, and its reference to packing material indicated that it operated only when the assessee was not already availing another exemption. On that basis, the assessee was entitled to opt for the 1992 notification, and the competing claim to the other exemption did not survive.

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Issues: Whether, where two exemption notifications cover the same goods, the assessee has the option to choose the notification granting greater relief and whether the assessee was entitled to the exemption under the 1992 notification.

Analysis: Both notifications covered the goods, but there was no specific or implied bar in the notification relied on by the Department preventing the assessee from opting for the other exemption scheme. The later notification was part of a separate exemption scheme and, in the absence of a prohibition, an assessee is entitled to choose the exemption that affords greater relief. The reference to the packing-material notification did not displace that choice, and its language indicated that it operated subject to the assessee not already taking advantage of another exemption.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to choose the 1992 notification, and the first question was answered in the affirmative in favour of the assessee. The second question did not survive.

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