DEVI MULTIPLEX Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Civil Appeal 6478 of 1979 is directed against the judgment and order dated 26.06.2009 passed by the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad in Special Civil Application No.18692 of 2005 to the extent it dismissed the challenge to the order passed by respondent no. 3 dated 20.07.2005 rejecting the application of the appellants for extension of time under Clause 10 of New Package Scheme of Incentives for Tourism Projects, 1995- 2000. Similar challenge stands raised in other civil appeals against Orders rejecting their applications for extension of time. Since Civil Appeal No.6478 of 2009was taken as the lead matter, facts relating thereto are dealt with in detail hereafter.

(2.) On 20.12.1995 Government of Gujarat announced policy named "New Package Scheme of Incentives for Tourism Projects, 1995-2000" (hereafter referred to as the Scheme) with a view to make available all fiscal and non fiscal incentives, reliefs and concessions enjoyed by industries to 'Tourism' which was accorded the status of an industry, in order to give a boost to tourism sector by attracting higher investment in the areas with tourism potential and to generate employment opportunities. Under Clause 2, the Scheme came into operation on 1.8.1995 and was to remain in force for a period of five years upto 31.07.2000. Under Clause 3, to be eligible, a new tourism unit ought to be registered after 1.8.1995. Clause 4.7 dealt with effective steps which such unit was expected to undertake. Under Clause 5, after taking initial effective steps a tourism unit could apply to the Director of Tourism for registration. All projects had to conform to the specifications and requirements spelt out in Appendix B which Appendix dealt with various categories of tourism units and Item 22 thereof pertained to Entertainment Complexes including multi cinema theater complexes or multiplexes. Clause 7 categorised tourism units in four categories, namely, Prestigious Tourism Units, Large Scale Tourism Units, Small Scale Tourism Units and Tiny Tourism Units with minimum fixed capital investment of Rs. 10 Crore, 90 lakhs, 10 lakhs and less than 10 lakhs respectively. Clause 8 dealt with incentives and stated that a tax holiday of 5-10 years would be available in respect of exemptions from (i) Sales Tax (ii) Turnover Tax (iii) Electricity Duty (iv) Luxury Tax and (v) Entertainment Tax, upto 100% of capital investment. In clause 8.1 it was stated that the quantum of incentives would not exceed 100% of eligible capital investment and it further stated the period of eligibility in respect of Prestigious Tourism Unites, Large Scale Tourism Units, Small Scale Tourism Units and Tiny Tourism Units to be 10 years, 8 years, 6 years and 5 years respectively. Clause 9 dealt with composition of sanctioning authority whereunder State Level Committee was competent to issue eligibility certificate in respect of Prestigious and Large Units while District Level Committee was to issue eligibility certificate for all Small Scale and Tiny Tourism Units. The procedure for registration tourism units for incentives was detailed in Clause 10.

(3.) Clauses 4.7 and 10 of the Scheme are quoted hereunder:-