Exemption notifications do not automatically cover education cess and secondary and higher education cess unless expressly included.

Refund of education cess and secondary and higher education cess paid with excise duty under the area-based exemption notification was held not admissible because the notification did not expressly extend its benefit to those cesses. The reasoning applied the principle that an exemption must be specifically granted by the notification issued under the relevant power, and that such cesses are not automatically covered by a general exemption unless clearly included. The contrary view was not followed, and the denial of refund was upheld against the assessee.

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Issues: Whether refund of education cess and secondary and higher education cess, paid along with excise duty under Notification No. 56/2002-CE dated 14.11.2002, was admissible.

Analysis: The refund claim was examined in the light of the scheme of the exemption notification and the later authoritative ruling that an exemption must be specifically granted by notification under the relevant source of power. The reasoning accepted that the area-based exemption mechanism under the notification did not, by itself, extend to education cess and secondary and higher education cess. The prior binding view that such cesses are not automatically covered when the exemption notification does not expressly include them was followed, and the contrary view was treated as not governing the issue.

Conclusion: The refund of education cess and secondary and higher education cess was not admissible, and the denial of refund was upheld against the assessee.

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