Exemption for match manufacture denied where the assessee could not prove the relevant processes were ordinarily carried on without power.

Exemption under Notification No. 4/2006-CE applies only where the specified manufacturing processes are not ordinarily carried on with the aid of power. The controlling test is not confined to whether power was used in the assessee's own unit in a particular case; the assessee must prove that the relevant processes generally fall outside power-assisted manufacture. On that basis, merely procuring machine-dipped match splints from another manufacturer and completing later stages without power does not satisfy the notification conditions, so the exemption was denied.

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Issues: Whether the appellants were entitled to the benefit of exemption Notification No. 4/2006-CE for matches where the manufacturing processes were not carried on with the aid of power in the appellants' unit, though machine-dipped match splints were procured from others.

Analysis: The exemption applies to matches in relation to the manufacture of which none of the specified processes is ordinarily carried on with the aid of power. The controlling test is not limited to whether power was used in the assessee's own unit in the particular case, but whether the relevant processes are ordinarily carried on with the aid of power. The burden lies on the assessee to establish entitlement to the exemption. Following the earlier Tribunal decision and the principle applied there, procurement of dipped match splints from another manufacturer and carrying out later stages without power does not by itself satisfy the notification conditions.

Conclusion: The appellants were not entitled to the exemption under Notification No. 4/2006-CE.

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