Exemption notification interpretation depends on whether a machine shop is a distinct industrial unit; matter remanded for fresh factual review.

An exemption notification was read as capable of applying to a separate and isolable industrial unit, such as a machine shop, rather than only to the entire factory, following the cited Bombay High Court view and the Tribunal's earlier order. The appellate forum, however, found the factual record insufficient to determine whether that interpretation could be applied to the machine shop on the existing evidence. As necessary factual findings were missing, eligibility under the notification could not be finally decided. The impugned orders were therefore set aside and the matter remanded for fresh examination after hearing the appellants.

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Issues: Whether the appellants' claim for exemption under the notification had to be examined with reference to the machine shop as an industrial unit, and whether the matter could be finally decided on the existing factual record.

Analysis: The expression used in the exemption notification was treated as capable of referring to a separate and isolable industrial unit, distinct from the whole factory, following the cited Bombay High Court view and the Tribunal's own earlier order. However, the record before the appellate forum did not contain sufficient facts about the machine shop or the factual basis needed to apply that interpretation conclusively. In the absence of necessary factual findings, a final determination on eligibility under the notification was not possible.

Conclusion: The impugned orders were set aside and the matter was remanded for fresh examination and decision after hearing the appellants.

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