ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) M/s. Ultratech Cement Limited (Petitioner No.1) and its Senior Vice-President (Petitioner No.2) have in this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India sought the quashing of a resolution dtd. 18/8/2020 issued by the Industries Department, Government of Odisha (Opposite Party No.2) in relation to the amendment to the Industrial Policy Resolution 2007 (IPR 2007) as being unconstitutional and illegal. The principal ground of such challenge is that the said amendment to the heading of paragraph-18.4 of the IPR 2007 has been made effective retrospectively from 1/7/2017 with a view to preventing Petitioner No.1 from availing the State Goods and Service Tax (SGST) reimbursement, as contemplated in paragraph-18.4 of IPR 2007. Background facts

(2.) The background facts are that Petitioner No.1 is stated to be operating cement manufacturing units in various States in India including a cement manufacturing unit in Jharsuguda District in Odisha. According to the Petitioners, the said unit is a state-of- the-art cement manufacturing industrial unit which, inter alia, utilizes intermediate products (clinker) and waste products (fly ash) generated by other industrial undertakings along with gypsum as a raw material to manufacture high quality cement.

(3.) It is stated that the cement manufacturing process undertaken by Petitioner No.1 is a controlled manufacturing process resulting in high value addition, employment generation and revenue augmentation. It is stated that the said manufacturing process requires substantial investment in high-end plant and machinery, monitoring and regulation through sophisticated electrical, mechanical and instrumentation systems by qualified technical personnel. IPR 2007