A.K.SIKRI.J. - (1.) SLP(C) Nos. 23172 of 2018. 23176 of 2018. 23179 of 2018. 24678 of 2018. 23414 of 2018. 24679 of 2018. 2296 of 2019. 1983 of 2019. 3278 of 2019 And 4483 of 2019 : Leave granted.
(2.) Origin of these appeals can be traced to the judgment dated 28th November, 2017 rendered by High Court of Himachal Pradesh in a batch of appeals. Vide the said judgment, the High Court decided many issues. However, in these proceedings we are concerned with only one question of law which is formulated in the following terms: "Whether an assessee who sets up a new industry of a kind mentioned in sub-section (2) of Section 80-IC of the Act and starts availing exemption of 100 per cent tax under sub-section (3) of Section 80-IC (which is admissible for five years) can start claiming the exemption at the same rate of 100% beyond the period of five years on the ground that the assessee has now carried out substantial expansion in its manufacturing unit?"
(3.) The High Court has answered the aforesaid question in the affirmative thereby holding that when the assessees started availing exemption of 100% tax on the setting up of a new industry of the kind mentioned in sub-section (2) of Section 80IC, which is admissible for 5 years, and either on the expiry of 5 years or thereafter (but within 10 years) from the date when these assessees started availing exemption, they carried out substantial expansion of its industry, from that year the assessees become entitled to claim exemption @ 100% again.;