Page 188 - ELT_1st September 2020_Vol 373_Part 5

626 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 373

2. By an Office Memorandum No. EA/1/2/96 I.P.O. of the Ministry of
Industry of the Govt. of India an Industrial Policy for the North Eastern Region
was notified. The said policy amongst others also provided that the industrial
activities would be free from income tax and excise duty for a period of ten years
from the commencement of production.
3. In furtherance thereof a Notification No. 32/99-C.E., dated 8-7-1999
was issued by the Central Government in exercise of the powers under Section
5A(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Section 3(3) of the Additional du-
ties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957 and Section 3(3) of the Ad-
ditional Duties of Excise (Textiles and Textile Articles) Act, 1978.
4. Clause 4 of the notification of 8-7-1999 inter alia provided that the ex-
emption contained in the notification shall apply to the units located in various
locations specified in the list which is annexed to the said notification. It further
provided that the exemption shall be for a period not exceeding ten years from
the date of publication of the notification or from the date of commencement of
commercial production, whichever is later.
Clause 4 of the notification dated 8-7-1999 is as under :-
“4. The exemption contained in this notification shall apply of the sold
units for a period of not exceeding ten years from the date of publication of
this notification in the official gazette or from the date of commencement of
commercial production whichever is later.”
5. The notification of 8-7-1999 also contained a list of locations and the
industrial units located within the said list of locations are entitled for the exemp-
tion from excise duty. Further the exemptions are for a period not exceeding ten
years from the date on which the notification was published i.e. 8-7-1999 or in the
event, the commercial production of a given industrial unit commenced subse-
quent to the date of the Office Memorandum, the period of ten years would be
counted from the date of commercial production.
6. An amendment was brought in to the notification of 8-7-1999 by the
Notification No. 5/2002-C.E., dated 12-2-2002 by which, it was provided that
amendments were made to the notification dated 8-7-1999 to the extent that some
more locations were added over and above the locations already specified there-
in. Apart from the addition of more locations, no amendment in any other form
was brought in to the notification dated 8-7-1999.
7. In the resultant consequence, even after the amendment of 12-2-2002,
the notification of 8-7-1999 continues to provide for the same provisions as it was
provided earlier, with the only exception that such provisions would now be
made applicable to some further locations. In other words the provision of clause
4 of the notification of 8-7-1999 providing that the exemption of excise duty
would be applicable from the date of the said notification i.e., 8-7-1999 would
continue to remain as it is and such provisions would now be also applicable to
the industrial units that may be located in the additional locations brought in by
the amendment of 12-2-2002.
8. The appellant industrial unit admittedly started its commercial pro-
duction from 18-12-1998. But the location of the industrial unit was not within
any of the location specified in the notification dated 8-7-1999 and therefore, it
did not have a claim for exemption from excise duty. But after the amendment
by the notification of 12-2-2002, the location where the appellant industrial unit is
located was also included and hence, it became entitled for such exemption.
EXCISE LAW TIMES  1st September 2020  188