Strict compliance with rebate notification conditions bars ship-store duty rebate without mandatory Customs certification.

Rebate of duty on ship stores supplied under Rule 18 and Notification No. 19/2004-C.E. (N.T.) was unavailable because the mandatory condition of obtaining certification from the Commissioner of Customs was not met. The notification required the Customs to certify that the goods were supplied in reasonable quantities for consumption on a vessel bound for a foreign port, and that condition had to be strictly satisfied before rebate could be allowed. In the absence of such certification, the rebate claim failed, the appellate relief was set aside, and the original rejection of rebate was restored.

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Issues: Whether rebate of duty on ship stores cleared under Rule 18 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 read with Notification No. 19/2004-C.E. (N.T.) dated 6-9-2004 was admissible without obtaining certification from the Commissioner of Customs regarding reasonable quantity and foreign-port bound use.

Analysis: The rebate scheme under para 2(C) of Notification No. 19/2004-C.E. (N.T.) required that excisable goods supplied as ship stores for consumption on board a vessel bound for a foreign port be in such quantities as the Commissioner of Customs at the port of shipment may consider reasonable. The record showed that no certification was obtained from the Commissioner of Customs and the respondent had not fulfilled the stipulated condition. The benefit of a notification is available only when all its conditions are satisfied, and the certification requirement was held to be vested in the Commissioner of Customs and not in lower authorities.

Conclusion: The rebate claim was not admissible and the order-in-appeal granting relief was set aside; the order-in-original rejecting the rebate was restored.

Final Conclusion: Strict compliance with the mandatory conditions of the rebate notification was required, and failure to obtain the prescribed Customs certification disentitled the claimant to rebate on the ship stores.

Ratio Decidendi: Conditions attached to an exemption or rebate notification must be strictly fulfilled, and where the notification makes Customs certification a mandatory requirement, rebate cannot be granted in its absence.

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