Incomplete exemption applications get deemed filing dates, limiting trade tax relief to the date defects are cured.

An incomplete exemption application under section 4-A of the U.P. Trade Tax Act is treated as filed only when the missing particulars and documents are later furnished under rule 25(1)(c). If the lease deed or other required information is supplied beyond the 60-day period after intimation of defects, the date of completion becomes the deemed date of application. In that situation, exemption operates only from the deemed application date under the provision governing delayed applications, not from the date of first sale. The cited circular and relied-upon decision did not change this result on the facts stated.

---

---

Issues: Whether, for the purpose of exemption under section 4-A of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948, the benefit had to run from the date of first sale or only from the date on which the application was completed by filing the lease deed and rectifying the defects under rule 25.

Analysis: The unit was accepted as a new unit and was otherwise entitled to exemption, but the application for eligibility certificate was found incomplete because column 10 was not filled and the copy of the lease deed was not enclosed. Rule 25(1)(c) provided that where the application is incomplete or required information is not furnished within 60 days of intimation, the date on which the application is completed or the information is furnished shall be treated as the date of application. On the admitted facts, the lease deed and completed form were furnished only on 16 April 1994, well beyond the prescribed period. Section 4-A(5)(a) applied only to a complete application made within the stipulated period, whereas the present case attracted section 4-A(5)(b), under which exemption runs only from the date of application as deemed under rule 25. The circular and the decision relied upon by the applicant did not alter this result on the facts of the case.

Conclusion: The exemption was rightly allowed only from 16 April 1994 and not from the date of first sale.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an application for exemption is incomplete and the required information is furnished after the prescribed 60 days, the date of completion is treated as the date of application, and exemption is available only from that date under the provision governing delayed applications.

---