Tax holiday eligibility depends on statutory protection under Section 43A; later amendment cannot revive a lost exemption.

Section 43A of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act withdrew tax holiday benefit under section 39 for newly set up small-scale industrial units commencing production on or after 1 January 2000, while preserving only units registered before the Ordinance and begun by 30 June 2000. The unit in question did not commence production within that protected period, and a later omission of the production-by-date requirement did not turn a fresh post-lapse registration into a continuation of the earlier registration. The subsequent amendment could not revive an exemption already lost on the facts, so the claim to tax holiday failed.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to the benefit of tax holiday under section 39 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994 after the insertion and later amendment of section 43A, despite starting production after the original deadline and after expiry of the first registration certificate.

Analysis: Section 43A withdrew the benefit of section 39 for newly set up small-scale industrial units starting production on or after 1 January 2000, while saving only those units that were registered with the Directorate of Cottage and Small-scale Industries before the Ordinance and started production by 30 June 2000. The petitioner did not start production within that protected period. The later omission of the words requiring production by 30 June 2000 did not justify treating a fresh registration obtained after lapse of the earlier certificate as a continuation of the pre-Ordinance registration. The subsequent amendment could not be used to revive an exemption that had already been lost on the facts.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to exemption under section 39, and the claim for tax holiday failed.

Final Conclusion: The application was dismissed, with the Tribunal holding that the petitioner did not satisfy the statutory conditions for the exemption and could not rely on the later amendment to claim a vested benefit.

Ratio Decidendi: A small-scale industrial unit can claim the exemption only if it satisfies the protection carved out by section 43A as it stood for the relevant period, and a later retrospective amendment cannot convert a fresh post-lapse registration into a continuation of the earlier qualifying registration for the purpose of tax holiday eligibility.

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