Recognition certificate amendment requires notice and hearing, and any deletion of concessional items operates only prospectively.

A recognition certificate under section 4B of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Tax Act, 1948 is a conditional concession covering items required for manufacture of notified goods. The assessing authority may amend the certificate for sufficient reason, but only after giving a reasonable opportunity of hearing. Show-cause notices were therefore the proper step for considering deletion of high speed diesel oil from the eligible list. Any withdrawal or deletion of the concessional item cannot operate retrospectively and takes effect only prospectively from the date of the notice. The matter was remitted for fresh decision on merits after hearing the assessees.

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Issues: Whether the assessing authority could, under section 4B(4)(ii) of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Tax Act, 1948, amend the recognition certificate to delete high speed diesel oil from the list of eligible items, and whether the challenge to the show-cause notices could be sustained at the threshold.

Analysis: The recognition certificate granted under section 4B(2) confers a conditional concession in respect of items required for use in the manufacture of notified goods. Under section 4B(4)(ii), the assessing authority is empowered to amend the certificate on its own motion or on the dealer's application for sufficient reason, and the proviso requires a reasonable opportunity of hearing before cancellation or amendment. The show-cause notices therefore represented the proper procedural step for considering whether the inclusion of HSD should be altered. The Court distinguished amendment from rectification and held that, where a concessional benefit is sought to be withdrawn, the change cannot operate retrospectively, but only from the date of the show-cause notice.

Conclusion: The show-cause notices were to be treated as notices for amendment of the recognition certificate, the matter was remitted to the assessing authority for fresh decision on merits after hearing each assessee, and any amendment would operate only prospectively from the date of the notice.

Ratio Decidendi: A recognition certificate under section 4B of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Tax Act, 1948 may be amended for sufficient reason after notice and hearing, and any withdrawal or deletion of an item from such certificate operates only prospectively from the date of the show-cause notice.

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