Exemption option under excise notification binds the manufacturer for later clearances in the same financial year.

A manufacturer who exercised an express option under Notification No. 1/93-C.E. not to avail exemption was bound for the rest of that financial year to pay duty at the applicable rate on subsequent clearances of the specified goods. The Tribunal applied the amended notification and held that the assessee could not later claim exemption for stainless steel circles manufactured from the same process after opting out for waste and scrap. An earlier decision was distinguished because it involved different facts and a change in eligibility conditions, not an express statutory option to forego exemption.

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Issues: Whether a manufacturer who had opted not to avail the exemption under Notification No. 1/93-C.E. could later claim the exemption for subsequent clearances of specified goods in the same financial year.

Analysis: The notification, as amended, expressly provided that once a manufacturer exercised the option not to avail the exemption, duty had to be paid at the applicable rate on all subsequent clearances of specified goods made after the option was exercised in that financial year. The Tribunal followed its earlier decision on the same notification and held that the assessee, having opted not to avail the exemption in respect of waste and scrap, could not change that position for the circles manufactured from the same process. The earlier decision relied on by the assessee was distinguished because it turned on different facts and on a change in eligibility conditions, not on an express option to forego exemption.

Conclusion: The assessee was not entitled to claim the exemption for the later clearances and was required to pay duty on the stainless steel circles as well.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed because the exercise of the statutory option to forego exemption bound the manufacturer for subsequent clearances in the relevant financial year.

Ratio Decidendi: Once a manufacturer opts not to avail an exemption under a notification containing an express "option" clause, the manufacturer is bound to pay duty at the applicable rate on all subsequent clearances of the specified goods in that financial year.

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