Statutory committee jurisdiction governs modification of sales tax exemption terms; subordinate officer cannot decide independently.

Under rule 28A of the Haryana General Sales Tax Rules, 1975, the exemption certificate, the exemption period, and any modification of exemption terms are matters reserved for the High Level Committee. The Director, Industries, acting only as Member Secretary, had no independent jurisdiction to decide a representation seeking alteration of the commencement date and period of sales tax exemption. The High Court held that such a request had to be placed before the High Level Committee for decision after hearing the petitioner, and quashed the order communicated on 30 October 2000.

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Issues: Whether the Director, Industries, Haryana had jurisdiction to decide the representation seeking modification of the commencement date and period of sales tax exemption granted under the Haryana General Sales Tax Rules, 1975.

Analysis: Under rule 28A of the Haryana General Sales Tax Rules, 1975, the exemption certificate, the period of exemption and any modification in the exemption terms are matters reserved for the High Level Committee. The Director, Industries is only the Member Secretary of the Committee and had no independent authority to decide the representation. Since the request concerned alteration of the commencement period of exemption, it was required to be placed before the High Level Committee for decision after hearing the petitioner.

Conclusion: The Director, Industries, Haryana lacked jurisdiction to decide the representation and the order communicated on October 30, 2000 was quashed. The matter was directed to be placed before the High Level Committee for fresh decision in accordance with law.

Final Conclusion: The challenge succeeded on the jurisdictional issue, and the statutory committee was held to be the proper authority to consider the requested modification of the exemption period.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory scheme assigns determination or modification of exemption benefits to a specified committee, a subordinate officer cannot usurp that function by deciding the representation independently.

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