( 1 ) THE Gujarat Sales Tax Tribunal has submitted a statement of the case and referred the following question of law for the decision of this court arising out of its order in Second Appeal No. 162/90 decided along with other cognate matters vide its order dated 5th September 1992. "whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the sales made against the certificate in Forms Nos. 17-A and 19 after the date of receipt of exemption certificate under entry 118 of the Government Notification under Sec. 49 (2) of the Act even before that date would be liable to be discarded and the tax applicable thereto would be required to be taken into consideration for the computation of the aggregation of tax exemption limit?"

( 2 ) THE question relates to assessment of the tax payable by the assessee for the period between 1. 7. 85 to 30. 6. 86 under the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969. The applicant is a private limited company and is engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of auto diesel engine spare parts. The assessee had set up a new industrial unit in a backward area which was a designated area under the scheme then prevailing governing exemption of sales tax to new industrial units and was issued eligibility certificate certifying that the assessee is entitled to exemption from payment of sales tax with effect from 21. 11. 85. The eligible amount upto which the assessee could claim exemption from payment of sales tax was quantified at Rs. 2,04,832. During the period in question the assessee, who is a registered dealer, has effected some of his sales to other registered dealers under the Gujarat Sales Tax Act against Form Nos. 17-A and 19. In terms of sec. 7 (iii) of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969, sales against such forms to another registered dealer is to be deducted from taxable turnover of the seller dealer.

( 3 ) BY a notification issued under sec. 49 (2) of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, Entry 118 was inserted in Schedule appended to notification u/s 49 (2 ). Subject to conditions mentioned therein, sales by a specified manufacturer of goods manufactured by him were exempted from payment of whole of tax during the period specified in the eligibility certificate. This was in furtherance of package of incentives for promotion of industries in rural and backward areas to achieve balanced growth and avoid decongestion of developed areas under Government Resolutions from time to time. The incentives at the relevant time under consideration included sales tax benefits in terms either of exemption from sales tax or deferment of payment of sales tax as per the new scheme of sales tax incentives effective with effect from 1. 6. 1980. As the name suggests, it envisaged two types of incentives for new industrial units established by a dealer. In one case assessee was to be exempted from payment of tax during the operation of scheme altogether. Under the other scheme, though the assessee was not exempted from payment of tax, but the payment of sales tax due from assessee was deferred under the scheme though such tax has been collected by him. In other words, the assessee was allowed to retain the tax collected by him for a specified period before he was required to pay the same to public exchequer. In either case the limit of maximum amount of tax upto which the assessee can claim benefit and period during which such exemption could be availed were the same. The assessee is not entitled to avail tax incentives beyond the period during which he is so exempted, nor is he entitled to avail exemption of tax, either from payment or for deferred payment, beyond the maximum limit of tax determined and certified in his eligibility certificate.

( 4 ) IN order to control and regulate this part of the scheme that an assessee does not avail more benefit than allowed under the scheme, both as to tax limit and time limit, liability of assessee to tax is required to be determined also for the period during which exemption operates