Concessional excise duty begins from the notification date when eligibility is objective and verification is only confirmatory.

A concessional excise duty notification operated from its effective date where eligibility turned on an objective condition: that, on the date of initial installation, capital investment in plant and machinery did not exceed the prescribed limit. The Assistant Collector's satisfaction was only a verification step for that factual condition and did not postpone the operation of the lower rate. Delay in reaching satisfaction could not change the date from which the notified concession applied. The concessional rate therefore applied from 1 June 1970, and a demand based on the higher rate until June 1971 was unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the concessional excise duty rate under the notification applied from the date of the notification or only from the date on which the Assistant Collector satisfied himself about the unit's eligibility.

Analysis: The notification fixed the lower rate by reference to the condition that, on the date of initial installation, the capital investment on plant and machinery was not more than the prescribed limit. The requirement of satisfaction by the Assistant Collector was only to verify that factual condition. The notification did not state that the concession would begin only from the date when such satisfaction was reached, and the time taken by the authority to reach satisfaction could not alter the date from which the notified rate operated.

Conclusion: The concessional rate was applicable from 1 June 1970, and the demand computed on the footing that the higher rate applied until June 1971 was unsustainable in favour of the assessee.

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