Malabar Oxygen Company vs Additional Sales Tax Officer and Another

C.N. Ramachandran Nair, J.—Petitioner claims sales tax exemption in respect of new industrial unit under Government order, S.R.O. No. 1092 of 1999 as amended by S.R.O. No. 295 of 2000. In order to be eligible for the benefit of exemption, the unit should have taken effective steps for setting up of the industry before January 1, 2000. All that the petitioner has done was to acquire land for the industry prior to January 1, 2000 and nothing else was done. The scope of "taking effective steps" before the due date under the notification is explained in my judgment in W.P. No. 20915 of 2003 dated September 4, 2003 (K.M. Sulekha v. State Level Committee for Sales Tax Exemption) whereunder it has been held that taking of provisional registration of the industry prior to the appointed day is mandatory and is cumulative with other conditions. Government pleader has also relied on the general clarification issued by the State Level Committee which is consistent with the view taken by me in the above judgment

In the circumstances, since the petitioner has not taken "effective steps" for setting up of the industry in terms of the notification, writ petitions are dismissed.