Exemption notification for shifted SSI unit upheld where manufacturer met substantive conditions despite no fresh registration certificate.

An exemption notification was construed by focusing on the manufacturer rather than the physical factory premises, so a shifted unit was not denied relief merely because it lacked a fresh SSI registration certificate for the new location. The assessee had moved its manufacturing unit from Jallandhar to Okhla, New Delhi, had not crossed the prescribed clearance limits, and no other eligibility condition was disputed. On that reading, the earlier Tribunal approach on shifted units and absence of a fresh SSI certificate was applied, and the benefit under Notification No. 175/86 was treated as available.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 175/86 despite not holding a SSI registration certificate for the Delhi unit, and whether para 4(b) of the notification could be applied on the footing that the assessee was already a manufacturer availing the benefit in its earlier unit.

Analysis: The notification was read as a whole and the emphasis in para 4(b) was found to be on the "manufacturer" rather than on the particular factory premises. The relevant facts were undisputed: the assessee had shifted its unit from Jallandhar to Okhla, New Delhi, had not exceeded the prescribed clearances, and no other condition of the notification was in dispute. The reasoning adopted in the earlier Tribunal decision dealing with a shifted manufacturing unit and absence of a fresh SSI certificate was treated as applicable. On that construction, the absence of a Delhi SSI certificate did not defeat the claim to exemption.

Conclusion: The assessee was held entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 175/86, and the Department's appeals were rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification places the emphasis on the manufacturer and not merely on the physical factory, the benefit cannot be denied solely because the shifted unit does not possess a fresh SSI registration certificate, provided the substantive eligibility conditions are otherwise satisfied.

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