Project authority certificate compliance defeats denial of exemption where authorised signatory and amended subcontractor status are recorded.

Exemption under Notification No. 6/2006-CE could not be denied where the Project Authority Certificate was amended to include the assessee as a sub-contractor/sub-vendor and the certificate recorded that the Group Head, Finance was duly authorised to sign on behalf of the project authority. The decisive requirement was compliance with the notification condition, which was satisfied on these facts; the absence of the CEO's signature was not, by itself, fatal. The demand, interest and penalty were therefore set aside and the assessee was held entitled to the exemption.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 6/2006-CE dated 01.03.2006 when the Project Authority Certificate was amended to include it as a sub-contractor and the certificate was signed by the Group Head, Finance.

Analysis: The exemption was denied on the ground that the end-use certificate was not signed by the CEO and that the assessee was only a sub-contractor. The amended Project Authority Certificate, however, included the assessee as a sub-contractor/sub-vendor, and it also recorded that the Group Head, Finance was duly authorised to issue the certificate on behalf of the project authority. On these facts, the condition attached to the notification stood complied with.

Conclusion: The denial of exemption was unjustified and the assessee was entitled to the benefit of the notification.

Final Conclusion: The demand, interest and penalty were set aside and the appeal succeeded with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the project authority certificate is duly amended to include the assessee and the signatory is authorised by the project authority, exemption under the notification cannot be denied on the mere ground that the certificate was not signed by the CEO.

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