SSI exemption cannot be denied where provisional registration is accepted and the registration certificate is later verified as genuine.

A small scale industrial unit claiming exemption under Notification No. 175/86-C.E. was entitled to the concession where its provisional registration was recognised under the departmental circular issued under Section 37B and the original registration certificate was later produced and verified as genuine. The operative principle was that, once the notification conditions were substantively satisfied and the certificate's genuineness was confirmed by the Revenue, exemption could not be denied on the technical ground that permanent registration had not earlier been produced. The commentary states that the denial of exemption and the Tribunal's contrary view were not sustainable.

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Issues: Whether a small scale industrial unit provisionally registered with the State authorities was entitled to exemption under Notification No. 175/86-C.E. and whether the benefit could be denied for want of permanent registration when the original certificate was later produced and found genuine.

Analysis: The exemption notification required registration as a small scale industry, and the departmental circular under Section 37B accepted provisional registration certificates for availing the duty concession. The petitioners ultimately produced the original registration certificate, and the Revenue verified it as genuine. Once the certificate was shown to be genuine, the conditions of the notification stood satisfied. In these circumstances, the denial of exemption and the Tribunal's contrary view could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The petitioners were entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 175/86-C.E., and the orders denying the exemption were liable to be set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the conditions of an exemption notification are met and the relevant registration certificate is verified as genuine, the benefit cannot be denied on a technical objection that permanent registration had not earlier been produced, especially when the departmental clarification recognises provisional registration for the concession.

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