STATE OF ORISSA Vs. VIJAYLAXMI OIL INDUSTRIES:SRI KRISHNA OIL INDUSTRIES:SRI KRISHNA OIL INDUSTRIES:SHREE JAGANNATH OIL INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted

(2.) This group of Civils is directed against the separate judgments and orders passed by the High court of orissa whereby the High court has allowed the writ applications filed by the respondents and further directed the appellants herein to issue necessary sales tax exemption certificate in favour of the respondents under the Industrial Policy Resolution, 1989 (in short IPR 1989, issued by the State of orissa. Since common questions of facts and law are involved in this group of appeals, we propose to decide these appeals by a common judgment, noticing the facts of leading case Civil No. 364 of 1994

(3.) The State of orissa, Appellant 1 herein, had been issuing IPRs from time to time and for the purpose of the present case, we are concerned with IPR 1986 and IPR 1989. The basic purpose for issuing IPRs by the State of orissa was to maintain and enhance the growth of industrialisation in the State by giving incentives/concessions to the industries which were set upwithin its State. Each one of these Policy Resolutions has a cut-off date called "effective date" and it remained valid till the announcement of the "next Policy Resolution, except to the extent the new IPR allowed continuance of the provisions of the earlier Policy Resolutions. In such Resolutions, certain categories of industries were kept outside the purview of incentives/concessions provided in the IPR. Only those industries were entitled to incentives/concessions in the form of sales tax exemption which were set up within the framework of the provisions of IPR. The industries which did not come under the purview of the aforesaid IPR were not entitled to incentives/concessions in the form of sales tax exemption during the operative period of one IPR and thereby could not avail themselves of the benefits under the subsequent IPR.