Exemption notification for packed food goods applies beyond specified can sizes; explanatory valuation clause does not defeat the main relief.

An exemption notification for food and food products packed in tin containers required duty to be levied only on the value of the goods, not on the value of the metal containers. The Explanation fixing the cost of specified round open top sanitary cans was confined to those described trade sizes for deduction purposes and did not limit the main exemption. For goods packed in other containers or different sizes, container value still had to be separately determined on the available material. The assessee was therefore entitled to the notification benefit, and denial of exemption based on the Explanation was unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of Notification No. 34/83-C.E. dated 1-3-1983 was available to food and food products packed in tin containers where the containers did not answer the particular description and sizes mentioned in the Explanation.

Analysis: The notification granted exemption by requiring duty to be paid only on the value of the goods and not on the value of the metal containers in which they were packed. The Explanation merely fixed the cost of specified round open top sanitary cans of particular trade sizes for deduction purposes. It was confined to those described containers and did not exhaust the notification or deny the exemption for goods packed in other containers or in containers of different sizes. In such cases, the container value was still required to be separately determined on the available material.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the benefit of the notification, and denial of the exemption on the ground of the Explanation was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: An explanatory valuation clause in an exemption notification is confined to the specific containers described in it and does not limit or defeat the substantive exemption for other containers covered by the main notification.

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