ANNAPURNA MALLEABLES PVT LTD Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this writ petition under articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners seek the quashment of recovery notices dated August 27, 2004 (annexure P6), also twelve notices (annexure P7) and notice of attachment (annexure P5 ).

(2.) BRIEF facts leading to filing of this writ petition are that petitioner No. 1 is a company registered under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and petitioner No. 2 is the managing director of petitioner No. 1-company. The company is situated at Raipur and engaged in the business of manufacture of iron casting. As the petitioner-company suffered heavy losses, therefore, it approached the Board for Industrial Finance and Reconstruction (BIFR), established under the provisions of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (SICA), and was declared as sick industry vide order dated June 10, 1991.

(3.) THE controversy in the present case, which centers around is that first notices were issued by the respondents for recovery of the sales tax arrears (annexures P3 and P4) for the period 1987-88, thereafter, second notice for the period April 1, 1993 to March 31, 1994 were issued and ultimately, the same was included in notice dated May 7, 2004 (annexure P5), and a consolidated notice proposing the recovery of dues from 1984 onwards till December, 2003 was issued to the petitioner. In reply to that the petitioner-company explained that the company is declared as a sick industrial unit and its rehabilitation package has been sanctioned and is under implementation since 1996 in which it has been specifically directed that the petitioner-company be declared relief undertaking for ten years and all its sales tax dues be deferred for ten years, i. e. , up to 2006. The sanctioned scheme has specifically dealt with all the tax dues which have accrued and would be accruing till the period 2006; the same cannot be recovered without express permission of the BIFR by the respondents.