Eligibility certificate jurisdiction under tax incentive schemes rests with the Screening Committee, not the assessing authority.

Under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Incentive Scheme, 1987, eligibility for tax exemption is vested in the Screening Committee, so an assessing authority cannot re-open that determination or issue show cause notices to cancel an eligibility certificate merely because it believes the certificate was wrongly granted. Where no breach of scheme conditions by the beneficiary is alleged, the assessing authority has no jurisdiction to withdraw the exemption or seek cancellation on its own; the proper course is to refer the matter to the Screening Committee for action under the scheme. Notices issued without such authority are without jurisdiction and unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the assessing authority had jurisdiction to issue show cause notices proposing cancellation of the eligibility certificate granted under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Incentive Scheme, 1987 and to withdraw the tax exemption.

Analysis: Under the scheme, the question whether an industrial unit is eligible for sales tax exemption is entrusted to the Screening Committee of the appropriate level. The assessing authority cannot sit in appeal over that decision or assume to itself the power to cancel an eligibility certificate merely because it considers the certificate to have been wrongly granted. Paragraph 9 of the scheme deals with breach of conditions by the beneficiary, and no such breach was alleged. If the grant was thought to be contrary to the scheme, the proper course was to approach the Screening Committee for appropriate action in accordance with the scheme.

Conclusion: The assessing authority had no jurisdiction to issue the notices or to seek cancellation of the eligibility certificate; the notices were without jurisdiction and unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the impugned notices were quashed, leaving the petitioner's challenge to the later partial cancellation of the eligibility certificate unaffected.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessing authority cannot unilaterally withdraw or cancel an eligibility certificate granted under a tax incentive scheme where the scheme vests eligibility determination in the Screening Committee and no breach of conditions by the beneficiary is alleged.

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