Exemption notification scope for HDPE pipes extends beyond the first storage point before amendment; denial was unsustainable.

Notification No. 6/2002-CE was available for HDPE pipes supplied for use beyond the first storage place for the period before 1.3.2007, because the unamended notification did not restrict the benefit to delivery only up to the first storage point. The Tribunal noted that the limiting language was introduced only by amendment with effect from 1.3.2007, so it could not be applied retrospectively to supplies made in February to May 2005. The denial of exemption was therefore unsustainable, and the impugned order was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of Notification No. 6/2002-CE was available to the manufacturer for HDPE pipes supplied for use beyond the first storage place for a period prior to 1.3.2007.

Analysis: The exemption under the notification had been denied on the footing that the benefit was confined to pipes used only up to the storage place. The Tribunal noted that the issue had already been settled in an earlier decision holding that the notification referred only to storage facility and did not impose a restriction that water must be delivered only to the first storage point. That restriction was introduced only by the amended notification with effect from 1.3.2007. Since the demand in the present case related to February 2005 to May 2005, the earlier unamended position applied.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 6/2002-CE and the denial of exemption was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the appeal succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification contains no restriction limiting delivery to the first storage point, such restriction cannot be read in for a period prior to the amendment introducing it.

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