Duty-paid exports and exemption notifications: rebate under Rule 18 cannot be denied merely because exemption was available.

Rebate under Rule 18 remained admissible on exported goods that were cleared on payment of Central Excise duty, even though an exemption notification existed. The availability of the exemption did not compel the assessee to adopt it, because the assessee could either claim the notification benefit or clear the goods on duty payment. As the department accepted the goods as duty-paid, rebate could not be denied merely because the goods were exemptable, and the rebate claim was correctly allowed.

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Issues: Whether rebate under Rule 18 was admissible on exported goods when duty had been paid despite an exemption notification.

Analysis: The goods were cleared on payment of Central Excise duty and the department had accepted the payment as duty. The existence of an exemption notification did not compel the assessee to avail the exemption, because the assessee had the option either to claim the benefit of the notification or to clear the goods on payment of duty. Since the exported goods were in fact duty-paid, the rebate claim could not be denied merely on the ground that the goods were exempted.

Conclusion: The rebate claim was correctly allowed and the challenge by Revenue failed.

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