Exemption notifications require cumulative compliance with individual and aggregate clearance ceilings before duty relief can continue.

An exemption notification for specified goods was construed as applying only to the first clearances in chronological order, subject to both the individual ceiling for each product and the overall ceiling for all specified goods. Clearances made on payment of duty were included in computing the first clearances, and the two limits had to be satisfied cumulatively. Once the aggregate value of first clearances crossed the overall ceiling, exemption could not continue for another product merely because its own clearances remained within the individual limit. The resulting effect was that the duty exemption ceased after breach of the aggregate ceiling.

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Issues: Whether, under the exemption notification, the assessee could continue to claim exemption for a particular product whose clearances were within the individual ceiling of Rs. 15 lakhs after the aggregate value of first clearances of all specified goods had crossed the overall ceiling of Rs. 30 lakhs.

Analysis: The notification was construed as granting exemption only to the first clearances of specified goods in chronological order, subject to both the individual ceiling for a particular product and the overall ceiling for all specified goods. Clearances made on payment of duty did not stand excluded from the reckoning of the first clearances. The reasoning adopted in the Larger Bench decision, supported by the High Court view on the meaning of "first clearances" and by the Supreme Court's interpretation of a similar two-ceiling notification, showed that both limits had to be satisfied cumulatively.

Conclusion: The assessee was not entitled to exemption once the overall ceiling was crossed, even though the clearances of the other product remained below the individual ceiling. The appeal failed and the demand was sustained.

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