Eligibility certificate cancellation cannot rest on a mere change of opinion after exemption is granted under a bona fide view.

A writ appeal challenging cancellation of an eligibility certificate was held not maintainable because the State Industries Department, which issued and cancelled the certificate, was the proper aggrieved authority and no valid impleadment or authorisation cured the defect. On merits, cancellation was unsustainable where the certificate had been granted on a bona fide and possible view under the exemption scheme; later withdrawal based on absence of manufacturing activity and plant or machinery at site was treated as a mere change of opinion on a debatable eligibility question, not a proved breach or false disclosure. The quashing of the cancellation orders was upheld.

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Issues: (i) Whether the writ appeal was maintainable in the absence of the State of Assam in the Industries Department and the authority who cancelled the eligibility certificate; (ii) Whether cancellation of the eligibility certificate was justified.

Issue (i): Whether the writ appeal was maintainable in the absence of the State of Assam in the Industries Department and the authority who cancelled the eligibility certificate.

Analysis: The eligibility certificate was granted and cancelled within the domain of the Industries Department. In matters concerning such certificates, the State speaks through the Industries Department, and the aggrieved party was therefore the Department that issued and cancelled the certificate, not the Commissioner of Taxes. The belated application to implead the State and the General Manager as appellants could not cure the defect, especially when the appeal had been filed years earlier and no authorization from the State was shown. The appeal, therefore, suffered from want of maintainability.

Conclusion: The writ appeal was not maintainable.

Issue (ii): Whether cancellation of the eligibility certificate was justified.

Analysis: The cancellation was founded on the view that no manufacturing process was involved and that no plant or machinery was found at the site. The latter ground did not amount to false information or violation of any condition of the eligibility certificate. The certificate had been granted on a possible view after enquiry, and the later cancellation amounted only to a change of opinion on a debatable question. Once exemption had been granted with open eyes, it could not be withdrawn merely because a different view was subsequently taken on eligibility. The cancellation was therefore unsustainable.

Conclusion: The cancellation of the eligibility certificate was not justified.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed, and the quashing of the cancellation orders was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: An eligibility certificate granted on a bona fide and possible view under an exemption scheme cannot be cancelled merely by change of opinion, and an appeal challenging cancellation of such a certificate must be maintained by the Department truly aggrieved and competent in the matter.

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