Exemption notification limits permit simultaneous benefit where no express clubbing requirement applies to first-clearance clearances.

Exemption notifications with first-clearance limits were construed as permitting simultaneous availment of Notification No. 8/99-CE and Notification No. 10/99-CE on excisable goods. The Tribunal applied earlier consistent decisions, including its own prior ruling, and held that clearances covered under one notification need not be aggregated for denying benefit under the other unless the notification expressly requires such clubbing. The Revenue's objection to simultaneous exemption was rejected, and the matter was not considered fit for reference to a Larger Bench in light of the settled line of decisions supporting the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the assessee could simultaneously avail the benefit of Notification No. 8/99-CE and Notification No. 10/99-CE on clearances of excisable goods, and whether the restriction in the exemption notification required taking clearances under the other notification into account.

Analysis: The issue was treated as covered by earlier Tribunal decisions, including a decision of the same Bench, which held that for computing the first clearances eligible for exemption, clearances under another notification need not be aggregated. The notifications were interpreted as not attracting the restriction relied upon by the Revenue, and the matter was not considered fit for referral to a Larger Bench in view of the later consistent line of decisions supporting the assessee.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the benefit of both notifications as claimed, and the Revenue's objection to simultaneous availment failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where exemption notifications operate on first-clearance limits, clearances covered by one notification are not to be counted for denying exemption under the other unless the notification expressly so provides.

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