Exemption for water-delivery pipes extends beyond the first storage point where the notification contains no express restriction.

An exemption notification for water-delivery pipes was construed to cover pipes used for delivery of water beyond the first storage point, up to later storage facilities, because the notification did not expressly restrict the benefit to the first storage point. The Tribunal followed earlier identical rulings and treated the issue as no longer res integra. On that interpretation, the exemption was available and the denial of exemption was unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the exemption under Notification No. 6/2002-C.E., as amended, was available to pipes used for delivery of water beyond the first storage point up to later storage facilities.

Analysis: The notification was construed in light of earlier Tribunal rulings holding that its language does not confine the exemption to pipes reaching only the first storage point. Pipes used for delivery of water to subsequent storage facilities also fall within the scope of the exemption, and the same view had already been followed in identical matters. The dispute was therefore no longer res integra.

Conclusion: The exemption was held applicable to the pipes used for delivery of water beyond the first storage point, and the denial of exemption was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification for water-delivery pipes refers to delivery up to storage facility without an express restriction to the first storage point, the exemption extends to pipes used for delivery to subsequent storage facilities as well.

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