Exemption notifications must be read by their plain terms; job-work manufacture did not defeat captive-use relief.

An exemption under Notification No. 118/75-C.E. for goods manufactured in a factory and intended for use in the same factory or another factory of the same manufacturer could not be denied merely because the final product was produced on job-work basis for another person. The notification did not make ownership of the finished goods a condition for exemption, and its plain language had to govern fiscal relief. Rule 56-C could not be used to narrow the exemption by importing extra restrictions not found in the notification. On that basis, the captively consumed goods qualified for exemption and duty already paid was refundable.

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Issues: Whether the appellants were entitled to exemption under Notification No. 118/75-C.E. dated 1-3-1975 notwithstanding that the final product was manufactured on job-work basis for another person and the finished goods did not belong to the appellants.

Analysis: The notification exempted goods falling under Tariff Item 68 of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 when manufactured in a factory and intended for use in the same factory or in any other factory of the same manufacturer. The operative language did not require the final product to be manufactured exclusively on the manufacturer's own behalf, nor did it make ownership of the finished goods a condition for exemption. In a taxing provision, exemption cannot be denied on considerations of supposed intention when the assessee satisfies the plain terms of the notification. The reference to Rule 56-C was not sufficient to cut down the scope of the exemption.

Conclusion: The appellants satisfied the conditions of the notification and were entitled to the exemption.

Final Conclusion: The appeals succeeded and the duty already paid on the goods captively consumed was refundable.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption notification in fiscal law must be applied according to its plain terms, and where the stated conditions are fulfilled, benefit cannot be denied by importing additional restrictions such as ownership of the finished goods or the fact of job work.

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