Exclusion in exemption notification limited to ordinary refrigerating machinery; scientific equipment using refrigeration principles stayed eligible.

Notification No. 155/86-C.E. was construed narrowly, with the exclusion applying only to refrigerating and air-conditioning appliances and machinery as commonly understood. Scientific and laboratory equipment did not lose the benefit of the notification merely because it operated on refrigeration principles or used compressors, condensers, fan motors, or similar components. The exclusion could not be enlarged by treating the working principle alone as decisive. On that basis, the equipment was treated as scientific and laboratory equipment used for testing and research, not as refrigerating or air-conditioning machinery, and the concessional benefit under the notification remained available.

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Issues: Whether the impugned laboratory and scientific equipment, though operating on the principles of refrigeration, were excluded from the concessional rate under Notification No. 155/86-C.E. as refrigerating and air-conditioning machinery.

Analysis: The exclusion in Notification No. 155/86-C.E. was confined to refrigerating and air-conditioning appliances and machinery as commonly understood. The mere fact that the equipment used compressors, condensers, fan motors or other components and worked on refrigeration principles did not convert them into refrigerating machinery for the purpose of the notification. An exemption notification could not be extended beyond its specific words, and the authority could not enlarge the exclusion by importing a broader concept based only on the working principle of the goods. The equipment remained scientific and laboratory equipment used for testing and research purposes and did not answer the description of refrigerating and air-conditioning machinery.

Conclusion: The impugned equipment was not covered by the excluded category in Notification No. 155/86-C.E., and the benefit of the notification was admissible to the assessee.

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