Union of India and others. ........ Respondents. Through: Mr. Jagpaul Singh, Advocate, Ms. Pallavi Sharma, Advocate. CORAM Hon'ble The Chief Justice Hon'ble Mr. Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul JUDGMENT (Per N. Kotiswar Singh, CJ) 1. The petitioner is a partnership firm registered under the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act 2006 (MSME Act) and is engaged in the manufacturing of chemical products namely emulsifiers, micronutrients/biozymes, water soluble/NPK fertilizers, pesticides, plant growth regulators, biopesticides and biopesticides fertilizers, etc. 2. This petition has been filed being aggrieved by the orders dated 03.09.2020 and the letter dt. 07.12.2020 issued by the respondent no.4, the office of the Assistant Commissioner Central Goods and Page |2 Services Tax Division rejecting the petitioner's claim for benefit of budgetary support under a scheme on the ground that the benefit thereunder can only be allowed on goods manufactured under an 8 digit HSN code and cleared prior to 01.07.2017, and thus the petitioner is not eligible for the refund. 3. The said claim was made by the petitioner under a scheme prepared by the Government of India in 2017 for providing budgetary support, in lieu of excise duty tax exemption granted earlier for manufacturing certain goods by the manufacturing units in the State of Jammu and Kashmir as per the exemption notification issued earlier in this regard in 2010. 4. The Central Government in exercise of powers conferred under Section 5A (1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, issued a Notification bearing No. 1/2010CE on 06.02.2010 (hereinafter referred to as the Exemption Notification) which exempted from payment of excise duty or additional excise duty leviable on such goods as specified in the First and Second Schedules to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 for a period of 10 years when these goods were cleared from a unit located in the State (now UT) of Jammu and Kashmir to boost industrial growth in the State (now UT). This exemption was limited to the Central Excise duty actually paid by the manufacturer of goods other than by utilization of CENVAT credit and was available by way of refund mechanism. The benefit of excise duty exemption was extended to goods described in the Table mentioned in the Notification falling within different Chapters of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. In the present case we are concerned with goods covered under Chapter 38. As regards Chapter 38, all goods under the chapter were eligible for the exemption of excise duty as mentioned in the Table. 5. The petitioner set up a manufacturing unit at Kathua, Jammu & Kashmir for production of the permitted goods namely emulsifiers Page |3 micro nutrients/biozymes and water soluble/NPK fertilizers falling under the 4digit HSN code 3808 under Chapter 38 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, which is described as "insecticides rodenticides fungicides herbicides anti sprouting products and plant growth regulators common disinfectants and similar products put up in the forms or packing for retail sale or as preparations or articles (For example sulphur treated brands Wicks and the candles and the fly papers)" under Chapter 38 of the Tariff Act. The petitioner, accordingly, made huge investments in terms of finance, capital, human resources, heavy machineries, equipment and raw materials required for setting up the plant and factory for the production of the permitted goods falling under the Broad Item of HSN Code 3808 under Chapter 38 of the Tariff Act. The petitioner commenced the manufacturing of the aforesaid products on 22.08.21016 and was availing exemptions in Central Excise duty under the aforesaid Notification dt. 06.02.2010 and was eligible to receive this exemption benefit till 19 October 2026. 6. Things changed with