PUNJAB DISPLAY DEVICES LTD Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only dispute raised in this writ petition is, whether the petitioner is entitled to exemption from levy of octroi on building materials, plants, machinery and raw-materials consumed in the premises of the unit of the petitioner for a period of six or eight years from the date of registration with the Director of Industries.

(2.) The petitioner is a unit carrying on its business in the manufacturing/assembling of all types of Devices, such as television pictures tubes, X-ray pictures, laser and laser system etc. The unit was registered with the District Industries Centre, S.A.S, Nagar, Mohali on July 24, 1986. At the time when the unit was registered with the District Industries Centre, it was registered as a unit failing in Area Group-II, but it was later on amended and was registered as failing in the Area Group-III. This amendment was carried out by the District Industries Centre on June 12, 1987. The State Government announced an industrial policy in the year 1978 to attract industrialists for setting up new industrial units in the State. A notification dated March 21, 1979 was published in the Punjab Government Gazette entitled as "Punjab Industrial Incentive Code under the Industrial Policy Statement 1978" (for short 'the Policy') containing the procedure to be followed for grant of incentives. This was made applicable with effect from April 1, 1978. The relevant extract of the Policy is Annexure P-5 to the petition. In this writ petition, the petitioner-unit is only concerned with regard to incentives relating to exemption of octroi. Under the policy the imposition of octroi was exempted for a period ranging from 5 to 10 years depending upon the categoraisation of industries falling within Group I to Group IV as stipulated in Schedule II of the Policy. The petitioner, as noticed above, was initially placed in Group-II but this Registration Certificate was later on amended and the petitioner was placed in Area Group- III. The petitioner thus, became entitled to exemption from octroi for a period of eight years commencing from the date of registration, viz., July 24, 1986.

(3.) Despite the registration of the unit in terms of the Policy, the Notified Area Committee, S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali (for short 'the Committee') insisted on the petitioner to pay octroi on the goods and the materials brought by it to its industrial unit situated within the area of the Committee. The benefit having been denied to the petitioner in terms of the Policy, the present writ petition was filed. Besides challenging the imposition of tax, the relief as granted by the Policy was also claimed.