ecently the Board of Approval (BoA) on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in its meeting held on 19th May, 2015, has approved for cancellation/de-notification of formal approval/notified, as the case may be, in respect of 22 SEZs as the progress made by the Developers of said SEZs are not satisfactory. The approval is subject to the concerned Development Commissioner of SEZ furnishing a certificate in the prescribed format that the developer has not availed any tax/duty benefits including Service Tax Exemptions, if any, under the SEZs Act and Rules, or has refunded any such benefits availed by it and no objection certificate from concerned State Government. State-wise distribution of number of said SEZs approved for cancellation/de-notification is as under:-

States	Numbers
Andhra Pradesh	3
Haryana	7
Maharashtra	1
Tamil Nadu	7
Uttar Pradesh	4
Grand Total	22

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

Cancellation of SEZ approvals requires developer certification of non-availment or refund of tax benefits and state NOC. Board of Approval approved cancellation/de-notification of 22 SEZs for unsatisfactory developer progress, subject to the concerned Development Commissioner furnishing a prescribed certificate that the developer has not availed any tax/duty benefits (including Service Tax exemptions) or has refunded any such benefits, and subject to a no objection certificate from the concerned State Government.