Eligibility certificate jurisdiction cannot be reopened by assessing authorities absent express statutory power.

A Sales Tax Officer lacked jurisdiction to question an eligibility certificate issued by the competent industries authority under the U.P. Sales Tax Act. The statute entrusted grant of exemption and the prescribed eligibility certificate to specified authorities, while the Commissioner's power under section 4-A(3) was confined to cancellation for misuse and did not permit reappraisal of the certificate itself. The later procedural notification operated prospectively and did not affect earlier certificates. In the absence of any statutory power in the Act or Rules, the show cause notice proceeding on non-availability of exemption was without jurisdiction and liable to be quashed.

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Issues: Whether the Sales Tax Officer had jurisdiction under section 4-A(2)(d) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, to question the validity of an eligibility certificate granted by the competent industries authority and to issue a show cause notice proposing assessment on that basis.

Analysis: Section 4-A vested the power to grant exemption from sales tax in the State Government or an officer authorised by it. The newly introduced clause (d) of sub-section (2) required the manufacturer to furnish an eligibility certificate granted by the specified officer in accordance with the prescribed procedure. The later notification prescribing the procedure operated prospectively and did not affect eligibility certificates already granted earlier. The power conferred on the Commissioner of Sales Tax under section 4-A(3) was limited to cancellation in cases of misuse of the exemption facility and did not extend to sitting in judgment over the grant of the certificate itself. No provision in the Act or the Rules conferred such power on the Sales Tax Officer, and the certificate in question had neither been cancelled nor withdrawn by the competent authority.

Conclusion: The Sales Tax Officer had no jurisdiction to question the eligibility certificate or to proceed on the footing that the exemption was unavailable; the show cause notice was without jurisdiction and liable to be quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute entrusts the grant and cancellation of an eligibility certificate to specified authorities, a subordinate assessing authority cannot reopen or sit in appeal over that certificate in assessment proceedings unless the statute expressly confers such power.

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