Exemption condition on credit availment required a clear factual finding before entitlement could be sustained.

Entitlement to exemption under Notification No. 5/98-CE depended on compliance with condition 10, which barred availment of credit on the specified exempted products and on any other products manufactured in the same factory. The central dispute was whether the assessee had taken MODVAT credit under Rule 57-A or Rule 57-B on other products in the same factory, but the Tribunal recorded no clear finding on that material fact. As the exemption could not be finally determined without resolving that condition, the order was set aside and the matter remitted for fresh adjudication in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to exemption under Notification No. 5/98-CE when the condition in the notification prohibited availment of credit on other products manufactured in the same factory, and whether the Tribunal could sustain the exemption without recording a clear finding on that material aspect.

Analysis: The exemption was subject to condition 10, which barred availment of credit on the specified products as well as on any other products manufactured in the same factory. The record showed that the assessee had not taken credit on the specified exempted products, but the dispute was whether it had availed MODVAT credit under Rule 57-A or Rule 57-B on other products manufactured in the same factory. The Tribunal proceeded on the footing that the department had not shown such credit availment, but no clear finding was recorded on that crucial issue.

Conclusion: The exemption issue could not be finally determined on the existing findings, and the Tribunal's order was set aside with a direction for fresh decision in accordance with law.

Final Conclusion: The matter was sent back for reconsideration because the decisive factual issue relating to the notification condition had not been conclusively found by the Tribunal.

Ratio Decidendi: Where entitlement to an exemption depends on satisfaction of a statutory condition and the appellate fact-finding authority records no clear finding on that material condition, the order cannot be sustained and the matter must be remitted for fresh adjudication.

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