Brand name exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE survived where the brand owner remained otherwise eligible as an SSI unit.

Exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE could not be denied merely because the goods bore another person's brand name, where that brand name owner was otherwise eligible as an SSI unit and its clearances of wholly exempt goods were excluded from the aggregate limit. Paragraph 7 applied only if the specified goods bore the brand name of a person not eligible for the notification. The fact that the brand name owner did not manufacture the same specified goods did not, by itself, attract the mischief of paragraph 7. The respondents were therefore entitled to the exemption, and the Revenue's appeals failed on merits.

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Issues: Whether the respondents were eligible for exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE despite using the brand name of another person, and whether the mischief of paragraph 7 of the notification was attracted.

Analysis: Paragraph 7 of Notification No. 175/86-CE denies exemption only where the specified goods bear the brand name or trade name of another person who is not eligible for the exemption. The brand name owner was holding SSI registration and was manufacturing excisable goods, and the value of clearances of wholly exempt goods was not to be counted for the aggregate clearance limit. The fact that the brand name owner may not have manufactured the same specified goods did not by itself mean that it was ineligible for the notification. The distinction between eligibility to the notification and actual availing of it was material, and the reasoning in the cited precedent supported that distinction.

Conclusion: The respondents were eligible to avail of the exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE, and paragraph 7 did not apply. The Revenue's appeals failed on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: Exemption under Notification No. 175/86-CE cannot be denied merely because the brand name owner did not manufacture the same specified goods, if that person otherwise satisfied the notification's eligibility conditions as an SSI unit with qualifying clearances.

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