Steel melting scrap exemption applies to ingots made from duty-paid bloom scrap under the notification's conditions.

Steel ingots manufactured from cut pieces of bloom rendered into steel melting scrap qualified for exemption under Notification No. 53/64 because the notification covered fresh unused steel melting scrap on which duty had been paid under Item 26 of the First Schedule and no prior set-off had been taken. The Court treated the mutilated or truncated bloom, once converted into melting scrap and used in making steel ingots, as satisfying the notification's condition, relying on its earlier ruling in the same appellants' case. Exemption was therefore available to the extent of excise duty proved to have been paid on the melting scrap, and the disallowance was set aside.

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Issues: Whether steel ingots manufactured from cut pieces of bloom rendered into steel melting scrap were entitled to exemption under Notification No. 53/64.

Analysis: The notification granted a qualified exemption for steel ingots produced from fresh unused steel melting scrap, subject to the condition that the scrap had suffered duty under Item No. 26 of the First Schedule and no prior set-off had been availed. The revisional authority had found that the material received back was a mutilated or truncated form of duty-paid bloom rendered into steel melting scrap. The Court also relied on its earlier decision in the appellants' own case, which recognised that melting scrap of bloom satisfies the requirement of the notification. On that basis, the cut pieces of bloom, once rendered into melting scrap and used in the manufacture of steel ingots, met the statutory condition.

Conclusion: The appellants were entitled to the benefit of exemption under the notification to the extent of excise duty proved to have been paid on such melting scrap, and the disallowance was set aside.

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