JUDGMENT :

M.R. Shah, J.

1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court of Calcutta at Calcutta in respective writ petitions by which the Division Bench of the High Court has dismissed the said writ petitions preferred by the appellants herein – original writ petitioners, the original writ petitioners have preferred the present appeals.

2. As common question of law and facts arise in this set of appeals, all these appeals are being decided and disposed of together by this common judgment and order. For the sake of convenience, Civil Appeal No. 2297 of 2011 arising out of impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court in Writ Petition No. 479 of 2006 be treated as the lead matter. The facts leading to the present appeal in nutshell are as under:-

2.1 That Section 2(dd) of the erstwhile Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 (hereinafter referred to as “Act, 1941”) defined the term “manufacture” and “blending of any goods” was included within the said definition. That the Act, 1941 came to be replaced by the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act, 1994”) and in the month of April, 1998, the definition of “manufacture” provided under section 2(17) of the Act, 1994 was amended and as a result of which, “blending of any goods” was omitted from the definition of “manufacture” but “blending of tea” continued to be included in the said definition.

2.2 By virtue of the amendment made in the definition of “manufacture” provided under section 2(17) of the Act, 1994, tax holiday was granted to new small scale industrial units for a specified period under section 39 of the Act, 1994 read with section 17(3)(a)(xi) of the Act, 1994 with Rule 52 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Rules, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as “Rules, 1995”).

2.3 Subsequently, the State Scheme of Incentives for Cottage and Small-Scale Industries, 1993 (1993 Scheme) was amended by the Governor of West Bengal in the year 1999, thereby, implementing the West Bengal Incentive Scheme, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as “1999 Scheme”), effective for a period of five years, i.e., from 01.04.1999 till 31.03.2004, for the purpose of providing incentives and promotion of the large, medium and small-scale industrial units in the State of West Bengal.

2.4 As per the provisions of the 1999 Scheme, the new industrial units which were established after complying with all the requirements provided under the 1999 Scheme were given an exemption from payment of sales tax for a specified period upon the purchase of raw materials required for carrying the manufacturing activity in said units.

2.5 It is the case on behalf of the appellants that relying upon the said Scheme and the amendment made in the definition of “manufacture” under section 2(17) of the Act, 1994, at the relevant time, the appellants had set up a new small scale industrial unit for the purpose of carrying on the business of manufacturing blended tea.

2.6 As per the provisions of the 1999 Scheme, the small-scale industrial units to claim exemption from payment of sales tax, were required to get themselves registered as small-scale industrial unit and obtain an eligibility certificate from the Sales Tax Department as per Section 39 read with Rule 55 of the Rules, 1995. The Deputy Commissioner granted the eligibility certificate to the appellants for a period of seven years from the date of first sale of the manufactured product. The appellants enjoyed the benefit of exemption from payment of sales tax as provided under Section 2(17) and Section 39 of the Act, 1994 for a period of two years till Section 2(17) came to be amended by the West Bengal Finance Act, 2001. Section 2(17) of the Act, 1994 came to be amended by the West Bengal Finance Act, 2001 w.e.f. 01.08.2001, whereby the words “blending of tea” were omitted from the definition of “manufacture” provided under section 2(17) of the Act,1994. Consequently, the exemption from payment of sales tax,