Customs exemption for relief and rehabilitation goods cannot be denied by adding a restriction not found in the notification.

Notification No. 201/76-Customs was not confined to hospital equipment; it extended exemption to goods imported for the purpose of relief and rehabilitation in accordance with the relevant agreement. The departmental objection, based on a restriction not found in the notification text, was therefore incorrect. On that basis, denial of the exemption was not sustainable and the assessee was entitled to relief.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of Notification No. 201/76-Customs could be denied on the footing that the imported chilling unit was not hospital equipment, when the notification exempted goods imported for the purpose of relief and rehabilitation.

Analysis: The notification did not in terms restrict the exemption to hospital equipment. Its language extended relief to goods imported for the purpose of relief and rehabilitation in accordance with the terms of the relevant agreement. The departmental appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) proceeded on an incorrect understanding of the notification by introducing a ground not found in its text. On that footing, the appeal should have been rejected.

Conclusion: The denial of exemption was not sustainable and the assessee was entitled to relief.

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