TMI Blog2009 (7) TMI 751X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ter, it has rightly been contended that appeal to the appellate authority as also the Tribunal would have been an idle formality. - Civil Appeal Nos. 4707-4714 of 2009 - - - Dated:- 27-7-2009 - SINHA S.B. AND CYRIAC JOSEPH JJ. T.L.V. Iyer and S. Ganesh, Senior Advocates (A.V. Rangam, Buddy A. Rangadhan, G.N. Reddy, V.B. Joshi, Kailash Pandey, K.V. Vishwanathan, Mrs. Shally Bhasin Maheshwari, Rishi Maheshwari, Akhil Anand and Ms. Megha Mukherjee, Advocates, with them) for the respondents. I. Venkatanarayanan, Senior Advocate (Manoj Saxena, Rajneesh Kr. Singh, Rahul Shukla, T.V. George, Ms. T. Anamika, A. Chandramohan and P. Mohan Rao, Advocates, with him) for the appellants. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment of the court was delivered by S.B. SINHA J. Leave granted. Interpretation of G.O. Ms. No. 108 dated May 20, 1996 falls for our consideration in this batch of appeals which are being disposed of by this common judgment. The respondents are owners of various industries. Indisputably, the Government of Andhra Pradesh in order to encourage industrialization in the entire State had been evolving various schemes in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s. 20,00,000, tax holiday was declared for a period of seven years and deferment of tax for a period of fourteen years, apart from other benefits specified therein. We may notice some provisions of G.O. Ms. No. 108 dated May 20, 1996 which are as under: "4. After careful review and examination of the package of incentives and all the other connected factors, in modification of all the earlier orders, Government have decided to introduce a new industrial policy, called TARGET-2000 in order to accelerate industrial development of the State and issued it. ... 7.00 Expansion projects: Existing industrial units, in eligible areas, setting up expansion project in products other than those listed in annexure, involving enhancement of fixed capital investment by at least 25 per cent as well as enhancement of capacity by 25 per cent for the products of the same product-line, will be eligible for sales tax deferral or sales tax exemption for the enhanced turnover above the base turnover as defined for a period of 14 years or seven years, respectively, subject to a ceiling of 135 per cent of additional fixed capital investment made, from the date of commencement of commercial pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ear and therefore the appellant is entitled to avail of deferment from February 12, 1998 onwards which is rightly granted by the assessing authority and the Deputy Commissioner erred in holding that the appellant should also achieve the previous level of sales under the CST Act for the purpose of availing of deferment benefit and therefore we come to the conclusion that the revision made by the Deputy Commissioner is not justified in the facts and circumstances and the same is not valid and legal and therefore not sustainable and liable to be set aside by allowing the TA." Several writ applications were filed thereagainst. Some of the writ applications were filed questioning the orders of assessment, without availing of the remedies available to the assessee under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act. By reason of the impugned judgment, the High Court opined that the definition of the term "base turnover" referred only to the quantum of production and not the turnover thereof and hence the Tribunal's judgment to that effect was held to be erroneous. Mr. I. Venkatanarayanan, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the State, would urge: (i) The High Court committed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y statement, various Government orders were issued from March 31, 1993 to November 21, 1995. It is in the aforementioned backdrop of events, the Government adopted a new industrial policy called "Target 2000". The said policy was adopted in order to accelerate industrial development in the State. The scheme for grant of the said incentive and/or deferment or exemption from payment of sales tax was granted not only to the new industries but also to those entrepreneurs who had got expansion projects prepared. Indisputably, the respondents had expanded their projects pursuant to or in furtherance of the said policy decision. The period for which the said policy was to remain operative was between November 15, 1995 and March 31, 2000. It was, therefore, valid for a fixed period. As the period in question has a direct nexus with the scheme, in our opinion, it would not be correct to contend as has been done by Mr. Venkatanarayanan that the said policy decision should be read with earlier policy decisions. Reference to the earlier policy decision has nothing to do with the new scheme introduced by the Government. They have been referred to only for the purpose of tracing the hist ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the scheme. The said G.O. does not refer to maintenance of local sales. The term "base turnover" would, therefore, in our opinion, refers to the turnover of the quantity in goods and not its monetary value. "Base turnover" was defined differently from that of the earlier definitions given in various earlier orders which clearly discloses the intention on the part of the Government. If what was provided in the earlier Government orders were to be followed, nothing prevented the State to adopt the same. We have noticed hereinbefore that even on earlier occasions the State had been issuing clarificatory notifications as has been done in the case of G.O. Ms. No. 75. It has rightly been pointed out that even in G.O. Ms. No. 386, the State Level Committee was given liberty to adopt in the place of production the turnover in value but such liberty had not been granted to the State Level Committee or to any other authority under the G.Os. in question. An exemption notification should be given a literary meaning. Recourse to other principles or canons of interpretation of statute should be resorted to only in the event the same gives rise to anomaly or absurdity. The exemption notif ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lomon and Co. ([1897] AC 22 (HL), 38; [1895-99] All ER Rep 33, 41 C-D): 'Intention of the Legislature is a common but very slippery phrase, which, popularly understood, may signify anything from intention embodied in positive enactment to speculative opinion as to what the Legislature probably would have meant; although there has been an omission to enact it. In a court of law or equity, what the Legislature intended to be done or not to be done can only be legitimately ascertained from that which it has chosen to enact, either in express words or by reasonable and necessary implication'." The exemption notification furthermore as is well known should be construed liberally once it is found that the entrepreneur fulfils all the eligibility criteria. In reading an exemption notification, no condition should be read into it when there is none. If an entrepreneur is entitled to the benefit thereof, the same should not be denied. (See Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Industrial Coal Enterprises [1999] 2 SCC 607 See [1999] 114 STC 365 (SC)..) In Commissioner of Trade Tax, U.P. v. DSM Group of Industries [2005] 1 SCC 657 See [2005] 139 STC 269 (SC)., this court opined that when an appl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... herein it was opined See at page 608 of 147 STC.: "8. Purpose of granting exemption under the notification dated July 27, 1991 was to promote the development of certain industries in the State. By the said notification, exemption from payment of tax or reduction in rate of tax was granted to new units as also to the units which had undertaken expansion, diversification or modernisation. The units of dealers in all the revisions are units, which had undertaken expansion/modernisation. The units of the dealers (respondents) are covered by clause (1-B)(a) of the notification. Exemption granted is on the turnover of sales of quantity of goods manufactured in excess of the base production. Under clause (6)(a) of the said notification, turnover of sale of goods in any assessment year to the extent of quantity covered by the base production of that year and balance stock of base production of previous years, shall be deemed to be turnover of the base production. Under clause (6)(b) of the notification, the facility of exemption can be availed on the turnover of goods in 'any assessment year' in excess of the quantity referred to in sub-clause (a) of clause (6). A conjoint reading of c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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