Brand name exemption under small-scale notification remanded after CBEC clarification on supplies for further manufacture.

The dispute concerned eligibility for exemption under Notification No. 175/86 where the goods carried a brand name but were manufactured for supply to a customer for further manufacture. A later CBEC clarification on the scope of the brand name restriction was treated as materially relevant to that eligibility question, because it indicated that such supplies may not necessarily fall within the mischief of the bar. The impugned order was set aside and the matter remanded for fresh consideration by the original authority, leaving the exemption claim open for a new decision on all connected appeals.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 175/86 where the goods bore a brand name but were manufactured for supply to a customer for further manufacture, and whether the matter required reconsideration in light of the CBEC clarification.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the scope of the brand name restriction in the exemption notification. The Board's circular clarifying that small scale goods supplied only to a customer for further manufacture would not necessarily fall within the mischief of the brand name bar was relevant and had a bearing on the controversy. As that clarification was issued after the impugned order and could materially affect the eligibility question, the proper course was to send the matter back for fresh consideration by the original authority.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded for reconsideration in the light of the Board's clarification; the issue of exemption eligibility was left open for fresh decision.

Final Conclusion: The appeals did not result in a final determination on the exemption claim, and the controversy was returned to the adjudicating authority for a fresh decision on all connected appeals.

Ratio Decidendi: A later binding departmental clarification bearing directly on the scope of an exemption notification warrants remand for fresh adjudication where it may materially affect the assessee's entitlement.

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