Retrospective curtailment of incentive benefits barred where completed assessments and scheme documents had already crystallised the entitlement.

Benefits granted under the Package Scheme of Incentives, 1983, as reflected in the scheme documents, eligibility certificate and certificate of entitlement, had already crystallised for the relevant period, and the assessments and appellate orders had concluded the deferral issue. The later inserted production-capacity ceiling could not be applied retrospectively to reopen completed assessments or curtail incentives already allowed under the earlier arrangement. The revised action was therefore unsustainable, and the impugned notice and proposed revision were set aside.

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Issues: Whether the amended provisions restricting sales tax incentives under the Package Scheme of Incentives, 1983 could be invoked to reopen completed assessments and revise the petitioners' deferral benefits for the relevant period.

Analysis: The incentives were granted under the Package Scheme of Incentives, the agreement, the eligibility certificate and the certificate of entitlement, all of which governed the petitioners' entitlement during the relevant period. The assessments for the period in question had already been completed and the appellate orders had also upheld the grant of deferral. The later inserted provisions introducing an annual production-capacity ceiling were sought to be applied to a closed assessment and to restrict benefits already availed under the earlier scheme. On the facts, the scheme documents did not justify such a ceiling, and the amended provisions could not be used to alter the concluded fiscal position of the petitioners.

Conclusion: The amended provisions could not be invoked against the petitioners to curtail the incentives already allowed, and the revisional notice and proposed action were unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was allowed and the impugned notice and proposed revision were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Benefits conferred under a package incentive scheme, as crystallised by the scheme documents and completed assessments, cannot be retrospectively curtailed by later amendment in the absence of an express and applicable ceiling under the original governing arrangement.

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