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TMI Blog1983 (7) TMI 296X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 4 of the Amending Act No. 5 of 1970, which came into force with effect from April 20, 1970. Section 5CC, as it was enacted by Act No. 5 of 1970 reads as under: "5CC. Remission of tax on raw material for specified Period.-(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 5 or 5A, but subject to such restrictions and conditions as may be prescribed, no tax shall be payable by a registered dealer who commissions any notified industry within the State on or after the first day of March, 1970, but before the 31st day of March, 1974, on sale to or purchase by him of any raw material up to 31st March, 1979 for the manufacture of goods for sale within the State or in the course of inter-State trade or commerce or in the course of export out of the territory of India. (2) Where any raw material purchased by a registered dealer under subsection (1) is utilised by him for any purpose other than a purpose specified therein, such dealer shall be liable to pay as penalty, such amount, not less than the amount of tax on the sale of such raw material at the full rate applicable thereto under section 5, but not exceeding 1 1/4 times the amount of tax at such full rate, as the assessing authorit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with the Registrar of Firms on March 16, 1972 yet both the units set up by the petitioner, namely, the rice mill as well as the oil expeller were old units, which had already been in existence prior to the coming into force of section 5CC and much before the stipulated date, i.e., March 1, 1970. The State Government in its reply explained that section 5CC was introduced in order to encourage the setting up of new industries in the State of Rajasthan and as such exemption was given even in respect of the concessional rate of 1 per cent to all persons setting up new industries. It was argued by Mr. Bhandari on behalf of the State Government that the provisions of section 5CC were neither arbitrary nor ultra vires but they have reasonable nexus to the object sought to be achieved. On the other hand Mr. Shrimalee, appearing for the petitioner, submits that the provisions of section 5CC are Per se discriminatory because a distinction is sought to be made between old and new industries and the benefit of the provisions of section 5CC has been bestowed to industries commissioned after March 1, 1970 but the same was denied to industries which may even have been commissioned a day before ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n of India for fixing May 19, 1951 as the date from which the officers of the State Police force were to count their seniority. Their Lordships of the Supreme Court observed as under in the aforesaid case: "It would be noticed that the date, May 19, 1951, to begin with, had nothing to do with the finalisation of the Gradation List of the Indian Police Services because it was a date which had reference to the finalisation of the Gradation List for the I.A.S. Further this date does not seem to have much relevance to the question of avoiding the anomalous position mentioned in para 9 of the affidavit, reproduced above. This date was apparently chosen for the I.A.S. because on this date the Gradation List for all the earlier persons recruited to the Service had been finalised and issued in a somewhat stable stage. But why should this date be applied to the Indian Police Service has not been adequately explained. Mr. B.R.L. Iyengar, the learned counsel for the appellant, strongly urges that selection of May 19, 1951, as a crucial date for classifying people is arbitrary and irrational. We agree with him in this respect." In Parameswaran Match Works' case AIR 1974 SC 2349, their Lo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uch a classification was not related to the object sought to be achieved. In Nakara's case AIR 1983 SC 130, the question which arose for consideration before their Lordships of the Supreme Court was as to whether the eligibility criteria devised for the grant of liberalised pension, namely, retirement after a particular date was violative of article 14 of the Constitution on the ground of being arbitrary and discriminatory. Their Lordships of the Supreme Court held that pension to civil employees and defence personnels was granted by way of compensation for services rendered in the past and is closely akin to wages, as it serves the purpose of providing to the recipient the means to meet the expenses of living. It was held that pension payable to a government employee is earned by him by rendering long and efficient services and can be said to be a deferred portion of the compensation for services already rendered. Their Lordships held that pension was neither a bounty nor a matter of grace, depending upon the sweet will of the employer nor it was an ex gratia payment, but it was in the nature of compensation paid for past services and is co-related to the average emoluments draw ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for the petitioner, it was so apparent that the date fixed for classifying persons or things into two categories was wholly arbitrary and there was no acceptable or persuasive reason for making the division of same kind of persons or things into two groups of classes. In Nakara's case AIR 1983 SC 130, the liberalised pension scheme was brought into being, so that the retired government employees could be better equipped to combat the spiral of rising prices and falling purchasing power of the rupee. It was in fulfilment of the socioeconomic justice that the liberalisation of the pension scheme was introduced. Looking to the object of the scheme, there was no justification for any arbitrary selection of persons to be benefited by the scheme and of division of pensioners, with reference to those falling on the one or other side on the specified date. Every retired government employee suffered the pinch of the rising prices and falling purchasing power of the rupee in the same manner, irrespective of the date of his retirement and there was obviously no reason as to why the benefit of the liberalised pension scheme should be allowed to government servants who retired after a partic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in section 5CC was to encourage the setting up of new industrial undertakings in the State by offering incentives in the form of tax concession, the classification made between already established industries and new industrial units appears to be reasonable one. It may be pointed out that section 5C provides a uniform concession to all industrial undertakings in the State, inasmuch as only 1 per cent tax was required to be paid on the sale or purchase of raw materials used for the manufacture of goods in the State. The aforesaid concession provided by section 5C is available also to the existing industrial undertakings in the State and the manufacturer who manufactures goods in the State would be required to pay only 1 per cent tax on purchase of raw material used for such manufacture. A further concession has, however, been provided by section 5CC totally exempting purchase of raw materials for manufacturing goods for sale within the State or in the course of inter-State trade or commerce, which would be available to new industrial units commissioned after 1st day of March, 1970. As the intention for enacting the provisions contained in section 5CC was to encourage setting up of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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