Exemption for "other bulk drugs" applies only to drugs listed in the relevant Second Schedule.

An exemption notification granting concessional duty to bulk drugs, by adopting the meaning in the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 1987, was construed as limited to drugs covered by the relevant Second Schedule. The phrase "other bulk drugs" was read to exclude products not listed in that schedule and to operate only outside the First Schedule category tied to specified health programmes. On that basis, Chloropheniramine qualified for the benefit, while the other two claimed products did not. The exemption was therefore confined to one product and denied for the remaining two.

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Issues: Whether the expression "other bulk drugs" in Notification No. 31/88-C.E. covered all three claimed products or only the drug specifically found in the Second Schedule to the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 1987.

Analysis: The notification granted concessional duty to bulk drugs, and its explanation adopted the meaning given in the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 1987. The order contained separate schedules, and the first schedule was confined to bulk drugs required for specified national health programmes. The expression "other bulk drugs" in the notification was therefore read as referring to bulk drugs falling outside the first schedule and traceable to the second schedule. On examination of the second schedule, only Chloropheniramine was found to be listed, while the other two products were not included.

Conclusion: The benefit of Notification No. 31/88-C.E. was available only to Chloropheniramine and not to the other two drugs.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded only in part, with the exemption confined to one product and denied for the remaining two products.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification refers to "other bulk drugs" by adopting the meaning in the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 1987, the expression is confined to bulk drugs covered by the relevant second schedule and cannot be extended to drugs not so listed.

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