AMIT COKE INDUSTRIES Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Being aggrieved by the order dated November 3, 1997 rejecting its application for grant of exemption from payment of tax under the Industrial Policy, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as "the policy") issued, vide notification Nos. S.O. 478 and 479 dated December 22, 1995, Under Section 7(3)(b) of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), the petitioner has filed this writ application. The said application has been rejected on the ground that the petitioner's unit is not a new unit but an old one purchased from a sales tax defaulter.

(2.) The respondents have filed counter-affidavit. The petitioner has filed rejoinder in reply thereto. We have heard Mr. Binod Poddar, learned counsel for the petitioner, and Mrs. I. Sen Choudhary, learned S.C.I., for the respondents.

(3.) Under the Industrial Policy, 1995, an entrepreneur, who has established a new industrial unit, can claim exemption from payment of tax under the Act. The new unit has been defined in the policy as a unit in which production starts between September 1, 1995, and August 31, 2000. The policy has further laid down that an existing unit after change of its ownership or on change of its name cannot be called a new unit.