Mini cement plant exemption depends on having kilns; capacity alone is insufficient for the concession.

A mini cement plant exemption under Notification No. 194/79-C.E. was confined to a cement plant consisting of one or more kilns with a total installed capacity not exceeding 200 tonnes per day. The unit concerned had no kilns, and that structural feature was held to be an indispensable condition for the concession. Capacity alone was therefore insufficient to bring the unit within the definition of a mini cement plant. The exemption was denied, the Assistant Collector's demand was restored, and Revenue's appeal succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the respondent unit was entitled to the concession available to a mini cement plant under Notification No. 194/79-C.E. dated 30-5-1979, and whether the absence of kilns disqualified it from the definition of mini cement plant.

Analysis: The notification defined a mini cement plant as a cement plant consisting of one or more kilns with a total installed capacity not exceeding 200 tonnes per day. The respondent's unit admittedly had no kilns. Since the existence of kilns was an indispensable requirement under the definition, the unit could not satisfy the notification. The capacity criterion alone was not sufficient to bring the unit within the concession.

Conclusion: The respondent was not entitled to the benefit of the notification. The demand confirmed by the Assistant Collector was restored and the appeal succeeded in favour of Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification expressly defines the eligible unit by reference to a specific structural condition, that condition is mandatory and must be satisfied before the concession can be claimed.

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