Exemption notifications are distinct and cannot be restricted by implication when each operates in a separate field.

Exemption notifications must be construed according to their plain terms, and a restriction cannot be implied from one notification into another where each operates in a different field. Notification No. 45/82 granted concessional treatment for patent or proprietary medicines supplied directly from the factory to Government departments, hospitals, local bodies and Railways, and contained no bar on simultaneous use with another exemption. Notification No. 245/83 applied on the separate basis of retail sale pricing and its own conditions. The two notifications were therefore distinct and independent, so availment of Notification No. 245/83 for other clearances did not defeat entitlement to Notification No. 45/82 for direct supplies to Government departments.

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Issues: Whether the assessee, having availed Notification No. 245/83 for retail sale of medicaments, was barred from claiming the benefit of Notification No. 45/82 in respect of supplies made directly to Government departments.

Analysis: Notification No. 45/82 granted a concessional rate for patent or proprietary medicines supplied directly from the factory to Government departments, hospitals, local bodies and Railways, and contained no condition excluding its operation because the assessee had also claimed another exemption. Notification No. 245/83, on the other hand, operated on a different basis, namely retail price in the price list and the satisfaction of its own provisos. The two notifications were held to be distinct and independent, and the absence of a restriction in Notification No. 45/82 meant that its benefit could not be denied by importing a limitation from Notification No. 245/83. Exemption provisions were required to be construed by their plain language.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 45/82 for medicines supplied directly to Government departments, notwithstanding the availment of Notification No. 245/83 for other clearances.

Ratio Decidendi: Where two exemption notifications operate in different fields and one contains no express restriction against simultaneous availment, the benefit of the specific exemption cannot be denied by implying a bar from the other notification; taxing exemptions must be applied according to their clear terms.

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