Plain meaning of exemption notification requires fents and rags to be counted in man-made fabric clearance limits.

Exemption notifications are to be construed on their plain language, and no restrictive exclusion can be read into an inclusive condition by intendment. For the 5% ceiling under Notification No. 6/88-C.E., the aggregate clearances of man-made fabrics had to include clearances of fents and rags, because those goods are themselves products of man-made fabrics and are classified by reference to that material. The computation therefore covered total clearances including fents and rags, and the Revenue's appeals were dismissed as untenable.

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Issues: Whether, for computing the 5% ceiling under Notification No. 6/88-C.E. dated 19-1-1988, the clearances of man-made fabrics must include clearances of fents and rags, or whether only clearances of sound fabrics are to be counted.

Analysis: The notification granted concessional duty to fents and rags of man-made fabrics, subject to the condition that aggregate clearances of such fents and rags from a factory during a year should not exceed five per cent of the total quantity of clearances of man-made fabrics falling under the specified headings. The headings and chapter notes showed that fents and rags are themselves products of man-made fabrics and are classified by reference to their basic material. On the plain language of the proviso, there was no basis to exclude fents and rags from the expression referring to clearances of man-made fabrics. The notification had to be read as it stood, without importing any restrictive intendment.

Conclusion: The basis for the 5% computation includes the total clearances of man-made fabrics, including fents and rags. The Revenue's appeals were therefore untenable and were dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption notification must be construed according to its plain language, and where the wording of the condition is inclusive, no exclusion can be read into it by intendment.

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