Transport Subsidy Scheme limits eligibility to inter-regional movement; internal movement within the North Eastern Region is excluded.

Transport subsidy under the Transport Subsidy Scheme, 1971 applies to industrial units in specified areas only when raw materials are brought in from outside the relevant region and finished goods are taken out. Internal movement of raw materials and finished goods within the North Eastern Region is excluded. The scheme's quantification formula also indicates that inter-regional movement, including the Siliguri-linked route, is the operative condition for subsidy eligibility. As the raw materials were procured from Assam, which formed part of the North Eastern Region, the movement remained wholly within the excluded regional block. The claim for transport subsidy was therefore not maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the appellant was entitled to transport subsidy under the Transport Subsidy Scheme, 1971 for raw materials used in its stone-crushing unit when the movement of such raw materials was confined within the North Eastern Region.

Analysis: The scheme granted transport subsidy to industrial units located in selected areas for raw materials brought into, and finished goods taken out of, those areas, while excluding internal movement of raw materials and finished goods within the North Eastern Region. The quantification formula for the North Eastern Region also indicated that subsidy was intended only where movement involved Siliguri and the industrial unit's location, showing that inter-regional movement was the relevant condition. On the facts, even accepting the appellant's case that raw materials were procured from Assam, Assam formed part of the North Eastern Region, so the movement remained wholly within the regional block covered by the exclusion.

Conclusion: The appellant was not entitled to transport subsidy, and the claim was rightly rejected.

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