Procedural delay in certificate production cannot defeat exemption where substantive conditions are satisfied.

Exemption under Notification No. 6/2006-CE could not be denied solely because the prescribed certificate was produced after clearance of the goods. Where the substantive conditions for the notification were otherwise satisfied, delayed production of the certificate was treated as a procedural lapse and not a ground to refuse the benefit. The demand and penalty were therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether exemption under Notification No. 6/2006-CE could be denied merely because the prescribed certificate was produced after clearance of the goods.

Analysis: The only objection taken for denial of the notification benefit was that the certificates were not available at the time of clearance. The Tribunal followed the prior decision holding that where the substantive entitlement is otherwise established, delayed production of the certificate does not justify denial of exemption on a purely procedural ground.

Conclusion: Late production of the required certificate did not disentitle the assessee from the benefit of the exemption notification, and the demand and penalty were unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption cannot be denied solely for belated compliance with a procedural requirement such as production of a certificate, when the substantive conditions for the benefit are otherwise satisfied.

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