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TMI Blog2001 (12) TMI 842X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the General Manager of the District Industries Centre in case of small industries, and SIPCOT in case of medium or major industries will be the competent authorities to issue eligibility certificates. 2.. The incentive given to the new units established in the 75 backward taluks other than the 30 most backward taluks from among the 105 backward taluks was by way of deferral of the total amount of the sales tax for a period of nine years to the full extent of the total investment made in fixed assets. 3.. The eligibility certificate in terms of that scheme was granted by SIPCOT to K.C.P. Spinning Mills Pvt. Ltd. for locating a spinning mill on Manavasi village in Kullithalai taluk in Trichy district for manufacture of cotton and man-made fabric. That certificate was issued on April 22, 1991. That unit had commenced commercial production on November 1, 1990. On the 12th April, 1991 an agreement was executed between K.C.P. Spinning Mills Pvt. Ltd. and the State represented by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes which, inter alia, required the benefit of the deferred amount of sales tax to be repaid in nine instalments, the first year's dues in the tenth year and so ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stances and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by the notification issued whether prospective or retrospective to defer the payment by any new industrial unit or sick unit or sick textile mill of the whole or any part of the tax payable in respect of any period subject to the restriction that no retrospective effect shall be given to any such deferral, earlier than 9th May, 1988. The Assistant Commissioner at Madurai therefore was fully competent to grant the deferral. 6.. The agreement however was not executed immediately and the petitioner had, therefore, after having waited for quite sometime, addressed a letter to the Special Commissioner on July 7, 1994 requesting him to issue instructions so that the agreement could be signed at the earliest possible time. That letter did not elicit any reply from the Special Commissioner immediately. However, on August 31, 1994, the Territorial Assistant Commissioner at Madurai executed the agreement with Fenner (India) Ltd. regarding the deferral of sales tax for this unit from November 1, 1990 to October 31, 1999. By virtue of that agreement the petitioner became liable to repay the benefit which its vendor, K.C.P. Spinning ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nter-affidavits. The Tribunal having dismissed the petition filed by the writ petitioner, that order of the Tribunal is in challenge before us. 10.. In this writ petition a counter-affidavit has been filed by the Commercial Tax Officer, Madurai, who asserted that, that affidavit is being filed on behalf of all the respondents which includes the Taxation Special Tribunal as respondent No. 5. He certainly cannot file an affidavit on behalf of the Tribunal which obviously has not authorised him to do so. The authorisation if any given by the Secretary to the Government is nowhere set out or referred to in specific terms in the counter. The Commercial Tax Officer who has filed the counter-affidavit is lower in rank to the Territorial Assistant Commissioner who was a party to the agreement. In that counter, the execution of the agreement by the Territorial Assistant Commissioner as also his authority to execute the same has not been denied. However, the officer has chosen to state in that counter that, that agreement was executed under, what he terms as, suspicious circumstances, without stating as to what those suspicious circumstances are. The fact that, that agreement so executed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... impose any condition while granting the eligibility certificate. The agreement which is required to be executed with the Government, however, can provide for the conditions, and the condition that the fixed assets should not be alienated without the prior permission of the Government, is a condition which is meant to protect the Government against any possible default in payment by the sale of the unit which would result in loss of revenue to the State. That condition was meant to protect the State and was a condition which was capable of being waived so long as such waiver was done by one, who was competent to do so. 14.. While administering schemes like this incentive scheme, the purpose for which the scheme was introduced must be kept in the forefront. It is not every infraction of every condition that is to result in the deprivation of the benefit to an industry which, on the strength of the scheme, had been established in a backward district, and which industry continues to function thereby providing employment and various other benefits to the area in which the industry is located. If a competent authority was satisfied that the infraction of the condition regarding the tra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s formulated, and while doing so, the perspective must be cleared to those who are required to administer it. They should not miss the larger purpose while being bogged down by consideration of minor infractions. The Secretary to the Government who wrote the impugned communication appears to have lost sight of the purpose of the scheme and the fact that the empowered Territorial Assistant Commissioner had already executed an agreement by which the State was bound as also the fact that the State had not suffered in any way by reason of the execution of that agreement which recognises the transfer. The confidence of the entrepreneurs in the schemes announced and worked by the State will not be enhanced if they are penalised for things which had been waived by execution of the agreement subsequently by those empowered to do so. 18.. The Tribunal was also carried away by the technical breach, ignoring the surrounding circumstances, and the subsequent events, as also the purpose for which the scheme had been announced, which purpose has not in any way been adversely served by reason of the execution of the agreement on August 31, 1994 between the Territorial Assistant Commissioner rep ..... 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