STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. MULTIPLEX ASSN. OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by State of Gujarat, complains of the grievance with respect to a part of the impugned judgment,dtd. 26/6/2009 delivered by the Gujarat High Court in Special Civil Application No.5391 of 2004.

(2.) This Court had occasion to deal with the substantial grievance of the present writ petitioner(s)/respondents, in a judgment reported in Devi Multiplex & another v State of Gujarat and Others,(2015) 9 SCC 132. The issue which concerns this Court in the present proceedings, with respect to the method of calculation or the method of determining the exemption limits under the scheme, extended by the State, to multiplexes, who had put up capital infrastructure. These incentives were by way of tax exemptions for a specified period. On the previous occasion, this court had adjudicated upon the grievance of the multiplex owners, regarding denial of extension of the scheme. This court held that the denial of extension (two years, which was sought by the multiplex owners) was in the circumstances, unjustified and had invoked the doctrine of promissory estoppel.

(3.) For the sake of convenience, the court can do know better than extract para 2 of the judgment in Devi Multiplex(supra) which broadly outlines the incentive scheme, contained in the exemption notification issued by the State on 20/12/1995. The relevant part of the judgment is extracted below: