Eligibility certificates under sales tax incentives relate back to application dates when administrative delay is not the applicant's fault.

Eligibility certificates under the sales tax incentive schemes were held to take effect from the dates of the applications, not from the dates of issue, because the schemes contemplated application and screening without prescribing any time-limit for decision. The form requirements, including disclosure of the period sought and the turnover and tax liability for that period, showed that the concession was intended to relate back to the application date. A beneficial tax incentive should not be defeated by administrative delay not attributable to the applicant, and the later amendment making benefit run from the date of issue was not applied. Exemption was therefore available from the application dates, and consequential denial for the intervening period was impermissible.

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Issues: Whether the eligibility certificates granted under the sales tax incentive schemes were operative from the date of submission of the applications or only from the date of issue of the certificates, and whether tax exemption and consequential assessments could be denied for the intervening period.

Analysis: The incentive schemes required an industrial unit to apply for eligibility and contemplated consideration by the screening committee, but fixed no time-limit for that consideration. The scheme forms also required the applicant to state the period for which the certificate was sought and the turnover and tax liability for that period, indicating that the benefit was intended to relate back to the application date. The Court relied on the principle that a beneficial tax concession should not be defeated by administrative delay, particularly where the delay was not attributable to the applicant. It distinguished cases dealing with exemptions for a whole year and followed the reasoning that statutory language should not be read to create oppressive, unreasonable, or anomalous results. The later amendment stating that benefit would run from the date of issue was not applied to these cases.

Conclusion: The eligibility certificates were held to operate from the dates of the applications, not from the dates of issue, and the petitioners were entitled to exemption from those dates.

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