NEW TECH PIPES LTD. Vs. APPROVAL COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Regard being had to the homogeneous character of the controversy involved in the present cases, writ petitions were analogously heard and by a common order, they are being decided by this Court. Facts of Writ Petition No. 2748/2010 are narrated hereunder.

(2.) The petitioner before this Court, a limited company registered under the Companies Act, 1956, has filed the present petition for grant of stay of order dated 23-12-2009 passed by the Approval Committee, Indore Special Economic Zone. The contention of the petitioner is that the petitioner-company is located in Special Economic Zone, Pithampur and is engaged in the manufacture of steel shots and steel ingots. It has been further stated that a notice was issued on 30-11-2009 under the provisions of Section 16(1) of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, alleging that the petitioner-company has evaded payments of Central Sales Tax and Value Added Tax, by way of mis-declaration on documents and thus evaded payment of Customs Special Additional Duty. The petitioner-company has further stated that as notice was vague and was issued contrary to the provisions of Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, a writ petition was filed before this Court and the same was registered as Writ Petition No. 9108/2009, challenging the issuance of show cause notice. The petitioner has further stated that the aforesaid writ petition was disposed of by order dated 9-12-2009 with a liberty to the petitioner-company to file its reply to the show cause notice and the Competent Authority was directed to take an appropriate decision within two weeks thereafter. The petitioner has further stated that the Competent Authority i.e. Approval Committee has vide its order dated 23-12-2009 cancelled the Letter of Approval (LoA) dated 24-5-2007, which was issued to the petitioner-company on the ground that there was enough reason to believe that there has been deliberate evasion of taxes on the part of the unit, systematically and repeatedly. The petitioner has further stated that being aggrieved by the order dated 23-12-2009 passed by the Approval Committee, Indore Special Economic Zone, an appeal was preferred as provided under the provisions of Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 before the Board of Approval, Special Economic Zones, Ministry of Commerce, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi. However, as there is no provision under the Act for stay of the impugned order, the present writ petition has been preferred by the petitioner-company before this Court. While preferring the present writ petition, the petitioner-company has prayed for the following relief:

(3.) Learned Counsel arguing the matter on behalf of the petitioner-company has argued before this Court that the Appellate Authority, during the pendency of the present writ petition, has decided the appeal and the matter has been remanded back to the Approval Committee for fresh adjudication.