JUDGMENT

1. Heard counsel for the parties.

2. The opening ground urged by the appellant is that the High Court ought not to have entertained the appeals on merits without condoning the delay in filing of appeals. This argument though attractive at the first blush, does not take the matter any further as we find the delay was only of 71 and 283 days respectively and sufficient explanation has been offered by the respondent(s) which could be condoned in the interest of justice and we order accordingly.

3. The core issue raised in these appeals, in our opinion, is no more res integra. It has been answered in the decision of this Court in "Malnad Areca Processing and Marketing Limited vs. Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Assessment) and Others", reported in (2008) 11 SCC 536 .

4. This very Industrial Policy, 1996 was considered by the Court. The Court opined that the same provides for exemption only in respect of sales tax and not for purchase tax as such. The relevant discussion in this behalf can be discerned from paragraph Nos.15 to 19 of the said decision, which read thus:

"15. In the government order what is provided to new industrial units is the sales tax exemption or def