Entitlement to exemption by self-credit under the refund...

Entitlement to exemption by self-credit under the refund mechanism was clarified: failure to comply with the pre-clearance intimation requirement in para 2D(c) of Notification No.20/2007-CE (and related condition 5(d) of Notification No.01/2010-CE) is characterised as a procedural condition rather than a substantive bar, and such procedural lapse is condonable; accordingly the substantive exemption benefit under the notification cannot be denied on that ground. The clarification endorses liberal construction of exemption notifications and upholds grant of exemption despite non-compliance with the pre-clearance intimation formalism, resulting in dismissal of the Revenue appeal.