Exemption for rehabilitation aids denied where contact and intra-ocular lenses were not treated as artificial limbs or handicapped aids.

Contact lenses and intra-ocular lenses were examined for exemption under Notification No. 71/86-C.E., which was limited to artificial limbs and rehabilitation aids for the handicapped. The exemption was held unavailable because the lenses were neither artificial limbs nor rehabilitation aids within the ordinary meaning of the notification. No material showed that users of intra-ocular lenses are regarded as handicapped persons in common parlance. Accordingly, the lenses were treated as outside the notification's scope and not eligible for the exemption.

---

---

Issues: Whether contact lenses and intra-ocular lenses were entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 71/86-C.E. dated 10-2-1986 as items falling within the notification for artificial limbs and rehabilitation aids for the handicapped.

Analysis: The relevant tariff heading was noted, but the exemption notification was confined to the specific entry for artificial limbs and rehabilitation aids for the handicapped. The lenses in question were not artificial limbs, nor could they be treated as rehabilitation aids for the handicapped on an extended interpretation of the notification language. No material was shown to establish that users of intra-ocular lenses are regarded as handicapped persons in common parlance.

Conclusion: The lenses were not eligible for exemption under Notification No. 71/86-C.E. The issue was decided against the assessee.

---