Exemption notification exclusion bars later benefit when small-scale exemption was already availed during the same financial year.

An exemption under Notification No. 5/99-C.E. was unavailable where the manufacturer had already availed the small-scale exemption under Notification No. 9/98-C.E. during the same financial year. Condition 15 of Notification No. 5/99-C.E. excluded manufacturers who had taken the benefit of specified prior notifications, and the text treated availing Notification No. 9/98-C.E. as bringing the manufacturer within that exclusion. Because the assessee had elected and continued to enjoy Notification No. 9/98-C.E., it could not be treated as outside the disqualifying condition for the later exemption. The exemption was therefore denied on the stated facts.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of Notification No. 5/99-C.E. was unavailable to a manufacturer who was availing the benefit of Notification No. 9/98-C.E. during the same financial year.

Analysis: Condition 15 of Notification No. 5/99-C.E. excluded a manufacturer who availed exemption under Notifications No. 8/98-C.E. and 9/98-C.E. The operative effect of Notification No. 9/98-C.E. was that the manufacturer could not change the option in favour of Notification No. 8/98-C.E. during the financial year. Since the appellant was admittedly availing the benefit of Notification No. 9/98-C.E., it could not simultaneously be treated as outside the exclusion in Notification No. 5/99-C.E.

Conclusion: The benefit of Notification No. 5/99-C.E. was rightly denied, and the issue is decided against the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed because the appellant remained within the class of manufacturers excluded from the exemption under Notification No. 5/99-C.E. by reason of its availing the small-scale exemption under Notification No. 9/98-C.E.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification excludes manufacturers availing specified prior exemption notifications, a manufacturer already electing and availing one such notification cannot claim the later exemption if the exclusionary condition is attracted on the facts.

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