JUDGMENT :

VIBHU BAKHRU, J.

1. The petitioner has filed the present petition being aggrieved by denial of budgetary support under the “Scheme of Budgetary Support under Goods and Services Tax (GST) Regime to units located in State of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and North-Eastern States including Sikkim” (hereafter ‘the Scheme’) notified in terms of the Notification dated 05.10.2017 issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

2. The petitioner is engaged in the business of manufacturing insulated wires and cables, ASCR conductors, copper wires, aluminium wires etc., at its unit located at Sector-3, II E Pant Nagar, Rudrapur, Uttrakhand.

3. The petitioner claims that it is entitled to the budgetary support under the Scheme as it was entitled to Area Based Exemption from Central Excise in terms of the Notification No.50/2003-CE dated 10.06.2003 as amended from time to time (hereafter referred to as ‘the Notification’). The petitioner claims that it was entitled to such an exemption from the date of commencement of production at its unit in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand till 01.07.2017, the date when the Notification ceased to apply with the roll out of the Goods and Service Tax regime. In terms of the Scheme, all budgetary support would be available to all eligible units under the erstwhile schemes in terms of the notifications as specified in paragraph 2 of the Scheme.

4. The respondents have denied the budgetary support under the Scheme to the petitioner on the ground that it did not fulfil the criteria of an ‘Eligible unit’ under the Scheme as it was not availing the Area Based Exemption under the Notification.

5. In view of the above, the principal question that needs to be addressed is whether the petitioner fulfilled the criteria as set out under the Scheme for being considered eligible for budgetary support.

6. Paragraph 1.2 of the notification dated 05.10.2017 in terms of which the Scheme was notified, expressly indicates that units which were eligible under the erstwhile Schemes and were in operation through exemption notifications issued by the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance, as listed under para 2 of the said Notification would be considered eligible under the Scheme.

7. The Notification is specifically mentioned in sub-para 2.2 of the aforementioned notification dated 05.10.2017. Therefore, indisputably, those units, which were eligible for benefit of the Notification, would be eligible for the benefit under the Scheme.

8. Paragraph 4.1 of the Scheme defines the term ‘eligible unit’ and is set out below :

“4.1 ‘Eligible unit’ means a unit which was eligible before 1st day of July, 2017 to avail the benefit of ab-initio exemption or exemption by way of refund from payment of central excise duty under notifications, as the case may be issued in this regard, listed in para 2 above and was availing the said exemption immediately before 1st day of July, 2017. The eligibility of the unit shall be on the basis of application filed for budgetary support under this scheme with reference to:

(a) Central Excise registration number, for the premises of the eligible manufacturing unit, as it existed prior to migration to GST; or

(b) GST registration for the premises as a place of business, where manufacturing activity under exemption notification no. 49/2003-CE dated 10.06.2003 and 50/2003-CE dated 10.06.2003 were being carried prior to 01.07.2017 and the unit was not registered under Central Excise.”

9. The key question to be addressed is whether the petitioner’s unit was entitled to the benefit of the Notification, and was availing the exemption immediately before the first date of July 2017.

10. The aforesaid controversy arises in the following factual context:

a. The petitioner had set up its unit at Pant Nagar in Rudrapur and in compliance with the Notification, issued a letter dated 09.10.2009 informing the Jurisdictional Commissioner that the petitioner was