Exemption eligibility based on revised turnover computation applies retrospectively for current-year clearances under amended notification.

An exemption notification amended the method of computing the previous year's aggregate value of clearances by excluding branded goods of another person. That revised computation governed eligibility for exemption in the current financial year, so the amended criterion applied to clearances made in April and May 1989. The amendment was treated as retrospective only for the limited purpose of determining exemption eligibility, because it changed the basis on which the prior year's turnover was assessed. The benefit under the amended notification was therefore available for those clearances.

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Issues: Whether Notification No. 174/89 dated 01.09.1989, which amended Notification No. 175/86 dated 01.03.1986 by excluding clearances of branded goods of another person from the previous year's aggregate value, applied to clearances made in April and May 1989.

Analysis: The amendment altered the method of computing the aggregate value of clearances in the previous year, and that computation governed eligibility for exemption in the relevant financial year. Once the previous year's value was recomputed by excluding clearances of goods bearing another person's brand name, the revised criterion necessarily affected clearances made in the running year. The amendment was therefore treated as relating to the basis of eligibility rather than merely operating only from the date of its issue.

Conclusion: The amendment had retrospective effect for the purpose of determining exemption eligibility for the relevant year, and the benefit was available to the clearances made in April and May 1989. The appeal was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification amends the computation of the previous year's aggregate value of clearances for determining eligibility in the current year, the amended criterion governs that current year's clearances and operates retrospectively for that limited purpose.

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