Exemption classification for partly skimmed milk powder follows settled Supreme Court treatment of the product as equivalent to skimmed milk powder.

Sweetened partly skimmed milk powder was held not to be distinguishable from sweetened skimmed milk powder for the purpose of Notification No. 4/90 and the relevant Chapter 4 classification. The Tribunal relied on the Supreme Court's earlier settlement of the same Food Specialities issue and treated that binding position as decisive. On that basis, the claim that exemption was unavailable to partly skimmed milk powder was rejected, and the exemption benefit was maintained for the product in dispute.

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Issues: Whether sweetened partly skimmed milk powder is the same as sweetened skimmed milk powder for the purpose of Notification No. 4/90 and the applicable tariff classification.

Analysis: The dispute turned on whether partly skimmed milk powder and skimmed milk powder were different products or treated as one commodity under Chapter Note I of Chapter 4. The Tribunal noted that the issue had already been settled by the Apex Court, which had dismissed the Revenue's challenge in the earlier Food Specialities matter. In view of that binding position, the contention that the notification benefit was unavailable to partly skimmed milk powder could not be accepted.

Conclusion: The products were not to be treated differently for the purpose in dispute, and the exemption benefit was available. The Revenue's appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the highest court has settled that partly skimmed milk powder and skimmed milk powder are not to be distinguished for the relevant exemption dispute, the later appeal on the same classification question cannot succeed.

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