Exemption notifications must be applied as written; extra BIS or record-format conditions cannot be imported to deny benefit.

Central excise exemption under Notification No. 6/2002-CE and Notification No. 5/2006-CE depended on use of fly ash or phospho-gypsum in the prescribed proportion and maintenance of accounts in the manner prescribed by the jurisdictional Commissioner. The article notes that no BIS compliance condition was shown in the notifications for the period in dispute, and the assessee's records evidenced use of the minimum prescribed fly ash quantity, which the Department did not dispute. In the absence of any prescribed separate form or manner, exemption could not be denied on that basis. The stated principle is that exemption notifications must be construed strictly by their own terms, without importing extra conditions.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to the central excise exemption under Notification No. 6/2002-CE dated 01.03.2002 and Notification No. 5/2006-CE dated 01.03.2006 despite the Department's objection regarding non-compliance with BIS specifications and the absence of a prescribed record format.

Analysis: The exemption notifications required use of fly ash or phospho-gypsum in the prescribed proportion and maintenance of proper accounts in the manner and form prescribed by the jurisdictional Commissioner. For the period in dispute, no condition requiring compliance with BIS specifications was shown to exist in the notifications. The records maintained by the assessee evidenced use of the minimum prescribed quantity of fly ash, and the Department did not dispute that fact. Since no separate form or manner had been prescribed by the jurisdictional Commissioner, denial of the exemption on that ground was not justified. Conditions not expressly stated in the exemption notifications could not be added by interpretation.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the exemption and the duty demand was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption notification must be construed according to its own terms, and a benefit cannot be denied by importing a condition or procedural requirement that the notification does not prescribe.

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