Certified installed capacity governs exemption eligibility where the notified limit is met and revenue contrary material cannot override it.

Eligibility for concessional excise exemption turned on whether the cement plant's installed capacity was certified by the prescribed competent authority and remained within the notified limit. The competent authority's certificate recorded installed capacity at 1,94,040 tonnes per annum, which was below the 1,98,000-tonne threshold in the notifications. That statutory certificate governed entitlement, and contrary revenue material did not displace it. The denial of exemption was therefore unsustainable, and the duty demand based on that denial failed.

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Issues: Whether the appellant was entitled to the benefit of the concessional exemption notifications in view of the certified installed capacity of the cement plant.

Analysis: The exemption notifications made eligibility dependent on the factory's installed capacity being certified by a competent authority not below the rank of Director of Industries and not exceeding the prescribed limit. On remand, the competent authority certified the installed capacity at 1,94,040 tonnes per annum, which was below the threshold of 1,98,000 tonnes per annum. That certificate satisfied the condition prescribed in the notifications, and the contrary revenue material did not displace the statutory certificate issued by the competent authority.

Conclusion: The appellant was entitled to the benefit of the notifications and the denial of exemption was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The duty demand founded on denial of the concessional notifications failed, and the appeals succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Where exemption eligibility depends upon installed capacity certified by the prescribed competent authority, the statutory certificate governs entitlement if it records capacity within the notified limit.

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