Incentive scheme eligibility certificates cannot be overridden by the assessing authority when the screening committee has exclusive power.

Where an incentive scheme vests eligibility determination in a screening committee, the assessing authority cannot override, curtail, or cancel the eligibility certificate on its own view. The Rajasthan HC noted that the controversy had already been settled in earlier writ petitions between the same parties, where assessment orders were quashed because the screening committee alone had authority to decide exemption eligibility under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Incentive Scheme, 1989. Once the eligibility certificate was granted, the assessing authority lacked jurisdiction to sit in appeal over it or deny the exemption independently. The court also accepted that the activity involved was manufacturing, which supported the assessee's claim on merits.

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Issues: Whether the assessing authority could deny the benefit of the incentive scheme and disturb the eligibility certificate granted by the screening committee, and whether the assessment order was liable to be quashed.

Analysis: The dispute had already been decided in earlier writ petitions between the same parties, where the assessment orders were quashed on the ground that, under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Incentive Scheme, 1989, the screening committee alone had the authority to determine eligibility for exemption. Once an eligibility certificate had been granted, the assessing authority had no jurisdiction to sit in appeal over that decision or to curtail the exemption on its own opinion. The court also noted that the same reasoning had been accepted in earlier authorities, and that the activity involved was manufacturing, which supported the assessee's claim on merits.

Conclusion: The assessing authority acted without jurisdiction in ignoring the eligibility certificate and denying the exemption.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an incentive scheme confers the power to determine exemption eligibility on a screening committee, the assessing authority cannot override, curtail, or cancel the eligibility certificate on its own view; any challenge must be taken before the competent committee in the manner provided by the scheme.

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