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TMI Blog2004 (6) TMI 617X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he appellant is a small-scale industrial unit engaged in the manufacture of industrial and medical oxygen. The unit is situate at Chelari, Thenhipalam, District Malappuram. It is registered as a dealer under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 (for short, the Act ). It applied for sales tax exemption to the General Manager, District Industries Centre, Malappuram. The application was rejected on the ground that the unit had not taken effective steps to start the industry before January 1, 2000. Feeling aggrieved by this order, the appellant filed an appeal before the Director of Industries and Commerce, Thiruvananthapuram, which was dismissed on (1)Reported at page 475 supra. January 4, 2003 observing that obtaining of provisional ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stries: (ii) new industrial units other than public sector undertakings which have taken effective steps for setting up new industrial unit prior to the 1st day of January, 2000. An industrial unit shall be considered to have taken such effective steps if it has, (a) obtained provisional registration (applicable only in the case of SSI units), (b) owned or acquired or has been allotted land for establishing the industrial units and applied for financial support from any regular financial institution/Government before 1-1-2000 or (c) in the case of self-financed units acquired or placed firm orders for the purchase of the necessary plant and machinery, before 1-1-2000 provided that the unit commences commercial production on or before th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ered to have taken effective steps so as to be entitled to claim sales tax exemption. In support of this submission, he placed reliance on some observations made by a learned single Judge in Pepsico India Holdings Private Limited v. State of Kerala (O.P. No. 8563 of 2003) decided on January 7, 2004(1). Learned State Counsel, on the other hand, contended that the condition in clause (a) regarding provisional registration has to be satisfied by every small-scale industrial unit, if it claims exemption and in addition, it has to own or acquire or has to be allotted land for establishing the industrial unit and if it has applied for financial support from any financial institution, it should have applied before January 1, 2000. He further conte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... quire. If the unit is to apply for financial support from any regular financial institution or Government, it must apply for such financial support before January 1, 2000. Then comes clause (c). The word or appearing after clause (b) and before clause (c) makes it clear that clause (c) is an alternative to the second part of clause (b). Both, the second part of clause (b) and clause (c) deal with the financial aspect of the unit. If the unit requires financial support, then the second part of clause (b) has to be satisfied in addition to the first part. But, if the unit is a self-financing institution, then clause (c) will have to be satisfied in addition to the first part of clause (b). In other words, a small-scale industrial unit would ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ll-scale industrial unit will become eligible to claim sales tax exemption. Let us now examine the judgments relied upon by the learned counsel for the parties. Pepsico India Holdings Private Limited (O.P. No. 8563 of 2003) decided on January 7, 2004 was not a case of a small-scale industrial unit and, therefore, clause (a) was not required to be satisfied in that case. The question that arose in that case was whether the unit had satisfied sub-clause (c) of clause (ii). The question whether all the three sub-clauses of clause (ii) were to be satisfied cumulatively or whether any one of them could be satisfied to claim exemption from sales tax was not in issue before the learned single Judge in Pepsico India's case (O.P. No. 8563 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rect law. On the other hand, the issue which has arisen before us had directly arisen before the learned single Judge in K.M. Sulekha's case [W.P. (C) No. 20915 of 2003], decided on September 4, 2003 and therein the learned single Judge has held that condition (a) along with the first part of condition (b) and either the second part of clause (b) or clause (c) have to be cumulatively satisfied. This, in our view, is the correct interpretation of the clause. In the case before us, all that the appellant had done was to acquire land for the industry prior to January 1, 2000 and nothing else was done by it. The provisional registration was obtained on August 2, 2000 which was beyond the cut-off date and therefore it cannot be said th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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