Trade tax exemption documentation: allotment letter alone suffices where land is allotted by a government corporation.

An industrial unit allotted land by a Government corporation satisfied the trade tax exemption documentation requirement by producing the allotment letter alone, because the prescribed form and notification treated such allotment as a distinct category from land held on lease. The authority could seek further particulars only where the application was incomplete, and the later execution or production of a lease deed did not postpone completion of the exemption claim. On that basis, the exemption period had to run from the date of first sale, and denial of the earlier exemption period could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether, for claiming exemption from trade tax under the relevant notification and rules, an industrial unit established on land allotted by a Government corporation was required to furnish both the allotment letter and the subsequent lease deed, and whether the exemption period had to run from the date of first sale or only from the date on which the lease deed was produced.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under section 4A of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 and rule 25 of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Tax Rules, 1948 required an application in the prescribed form and allowed the authority to seek additional information only where the application was incomplete or the required particulars were not furnished. Paragraph 10 of Form XLVI specifically treated allotment by Government or a Government corporation as a distinct category from land taken on lease, requiring an attested copy of the allotment letter in the former case and the registered lease deed in the latter. The notification dated July 27, 1991 likewise used these contingencies disjunctively. Since the land had been allotted by a State Government corporation, the allotment letter satisfied the prescribed requirement, and the later execution or production of the lease deed did not postpone completion of the application or the commencement of the exemption period.

Conclusion: The appellant was entitled to exemption on the basis of the allotment letter alone, and the period of exemption had to be counted from the date of first sale.

Final Conclusion: The impugned denial of exemption for the earlier period could not stand, and the assessee was held entitled to the full ten-year trade tax exemption from the date of first sale.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the exemption notification and prescribed form treat allotment by a Government or Government-controlled corporation as a separate and sufficient category, production of the allotment letter fulfills the eligibility requirement and a later lease deed cannot be insisted upon to curtail the exemption period.

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