Exemption for packaged cement supplied to construction buyers upheld where retail sale price declaration was not required.

Cement cleared in packaged form to institutional consumers, including construction industry buyers, was held eligible for concessional duty under the exemption notification because the notification applied where retail sale price declaration was not required under the Packaged Commodities Rules. The Tribunal followed settled precedent that construction activity is treated as a service industry for this purpose and relied on coordinate bench and High Court authority to treat construction-industry buyers as covered by the notification. On that basis, the exemption was available and the duty demand was not sustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether cement cleared in packaged form to institutional consumers, including construction industry buyers, qualified for the concessional rate of duty under the exemption notification despite the requirement of retail sale price declaration.

Analysis: The Tribunal applied the settled view that construction activity is treated as a service industry for the purpose of the notification. It noted that the goods were supplied to institutional consumers and that the relevant exemption operated where retail sale price declaration was not required under the Packaged Commodities Rules. Relying on earlier coordinate bench decisions and the High Court decision holding that construction industry falls within the expression service industry, the Tribunal found that the assessee satisfied the conditions of the notification.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the benefit of the exemption notification and the demand could not be sustained.

---