TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (3) TMI 899
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.... "Appellate Authority"), and seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to hold that the petitioner is entitled to exemption under Notification No. 41/2017-IT(Rate) dated 23.10.2017 (for short "the Notification"). 3. The facts, in brief, are that the petitioner is engaged in the manufacture of packaging materials, including HDPE drums, Jerrycans and Intermediate Bulk Containers, falling under HSN 3923. Upon receipt of purchase orders from merchant exporters for the supply of HDPE drums, the petitioner raised invoices on the merchant exporters and delivered the HDPE drums to the premises of the chemical manufacturers. The chemical manufacturer is engaged in the manufacture of ethyl alcohol. The ethyl alcohol is packed in the drums supplied by the petitioner, and thereafter the merchant exporter exports the same. 3.1 The Notification was issued in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 6(1) of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (for short, "IGST Act"). According to the petitioner, in terms of the said Notification, the supply of HDPE drums is eligible for a concessional rate of tax. 3.2 The petitioner filed an application under Section 97 of th....
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....learned counsel, as the supply has been effected to the place of business, the same would satisfy the requirements prescribed under the Notification. 4.3 Learned counsel places reliance on the Minutes of the 22nd GST Council Meeting held on 06.10.2017 to elucidate the background leading to the issuance of the Notification. Reliance is also placed on the judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd. v. Deputy Commissioner [1991 (55) ELT 437 (S.C.)], Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Amritsar v. Malwa Industries Ltd. [2009 (235) ELT 214 (S.C.)] and Government of Kerala v. Mother Superior Adoration Convent [2021 (376) ELT 242 (S.C.)], to contend that an exemption notification must be construed strictly on its terms, and that a purposive and objective interpretation is required while examining its scope and applicability. 5. Sri Jeevan J. Neeralgi, learned counsel appearing for respondent Nos. 1 to 3, and Sri Aditya Vikram Bhat, learned Additional Government Advocate appearing for respondent No. 4, submit that the concessional rate is available only when a registered supplier supplies taxable goods to a registered recipient for the purpose....
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....ters (ME)- a. Supplies of goods to a ME registered with EPC/Commodity Boards) shall be on payment of nominal 1% GST. b. Adequate safeguards such as requiring export goods to be aggregated in export warehouses etc. to prevent misuse." 8.2 Pursuant to the resolution passed by the GST Council, the Notification came to be issued. Under the said Notification, inter-State supply of taxable goods by a registered supplier to a registered recipient for export is liable to a concessional rate of tax at 0.1%, subject to fulfillment of the stipulated conditions. The conditions enumerated in the Notification read as follows: "(i) the registered supplier shall supply the goods to the registered recipient on a tax invoice; (ii) the registered recipient shall export the said goods within a period of ninety days from the date of issue of a tax invoice by the registered supplier; (iii) the registered recipient shall indicate the Goods and Services Tax Identification Number of the registered supplier and the tax invoice number issued by the registered supplier in respect of the said goods in the shipping bill or bill of export, as the case may be; ....
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.... 8.3.1 As per Condition No.(v), the registered recipient shall place an order on the registered supplier for procuring goods at the concessional rate, and a copy of such order shall be furnished to the jurisdictional tax officer of the registered supplier. 8.3.2 Condition No.(vi) stipulates that the registered recipient shall move the said goods from the place of the registered supplier directly to the Port, Inland Container Depot, Airport or Land Customs Station from where the goods are to be exported. In the alternative, the registered recipient may move the said goods from the place of the registered supplier directly to a registered warehouse, from where the goods shall thereafter be moved to the Port, Inland Container Depot, Airport or Land Customs Station for export. 8.3.3 Condition No.(vii) carves out a limited exception to Condition No.(vi). It provides that where the registered recipient intends to aggregate supplies from multiple registered suppliers and thereafter export the same, the goods from each such registered supplier shall first be moved to a registered warehouse, and upon such aggregation, the registered recipient shall move the goods to the Port, Inlan....
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.... nor supply of goods to or by any person other than the registered recipient is contemplated so as to avail the benefit under the Notification. 8.9 We find no ambiguity in the language of the Notification. On a plain reading, the text is clear and unambiguous in prescribing the above requirements. 9. As the Minutes of the GST Council, placing on record the background to the issuance of the Notification, have been relied upon, we have examined the same. The recommendation of the GST Council clearly indicates that the supply of goods is to be made to a registered merchant exporter, i.e., the registered recipient. 9.1 Any interpretation placed upon the Notification to the contrary would amount to altering or diluting the stipulated conditions. It is not permissible either to omit any words from the Notification or to read into it words that are not expressly provided. When the Notification grants a concessional rate subject to strict compliance with specified conditions, the question of compliance must be tested strictly in terms of those conditions. In such a case, recourse to external interpretative aids to vary or expand the plain language of the Notification is impermissi....
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....cording to legislative intendment. The statutory provisions providing for exemption have to be interpreted in light of the words employed in them and there cannot be any addition or subtraction from the statutory provisions. 8.3. As per the law laid down by this Court in a catena of decisions, in a taxing statute, it is the plain language of the provision that has to be preferred, where language is plain and is capable of determining a defined meaning. Strict interpretation of the provision is to be accorded to each case on hand. Purposive interpretation can be given only when there is an ambiguity in the statutory provision or it results in absurdity, which is so not found in the present case. 8.4. Now, so far as the submission on behalf of the respondent that in the event of ambiguity in a provision in a fiscal statute, a construction favourable to the assessee should be adopted is concerned, the said principle shall not be applicable to construction of an exemption notification, when it is clear and not ambiguous. Thus, it will be for the assessee to show that he comes within the purview of the notification. Eligibility clause, it is well settled, in relation t....