This intra Court appeal has been filed against

the order dated 18.10.2021 passed by the learned

Single Judge by which the writ petition preferred by

the appellant has been dismissed.

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2. Facts giving rise to the filing of this appeal

briefly stated are that the appellant is a Company

incorporated under the provisions of the erstwhile

Companies Act and interest subsidy scheme was

framed by the Central Government with effect from

01.04.2002. Under the aforesaid scheme, all new

hotel projects which were approved by the Central

Government on or before 31.03.2002, were entitled to

the benefit under the scheme. The appellant's

proposal for grant of interest subsidy was made in the

year 2005 i.e. much beyond the cut off date. The

claim of the appellant for grant of interest subsidy was

rejected by an order dated 21.09.2015 passed by the

Ministry of Tourism, Government of India for the

following reasons:

"i) The Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India

discontinued

the

Scheme

of

Interest

4

Subsidy with effect from 01.04.2002 for all

the new hotel projects.

ii) However, it was decided that all the

eligible hotel projects approved by the

Department on or before 31.03.2002 would

continue to avail interest subsidy as per the

then Scheme.

iii) Each Scheme in the Govt. of India is

first

approved

by

the

Planning

Commission/Ministry

of

Finance

and

accordingly a suitable fund is allocated for

this purpose.

iv) All the Scheme are launched for a

particular period and these are reviewed

from time to time. As public money are

involved, it is important to ensure that these

are utilised with utmost care.

v)

Further, Govt. of India, Ministry of

Tourism launched a new Scheme of "Capital

Subsidy" in place of Interest Subsidy.

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vi) The proposal for grant of Interest

subsidy was received from Hotel Basant

Resorts & Hotels (I) Pvt. Ltd, Bengaluru in

May 2005, i.e., after more than three years

after the closure of the Scheme of Interest

Subsidy by the Govt. of India, Ministry of

Tourism.

vii) The interest Subsidy proposal made by

the hotel Basant Resorts & Hotels (I) Pvt.

Ltd., Bengaluru was considered in the

Ministry

of

Tourism

Govt.

of

India

thoroughly in consultation with Integrated

Finance Division of the Ministry

and

keeping in view of the aforesaid facts the

proposal was not agreed to."

The appellant has assailed the aforesaid order in

a writ petition which has been dismissed by the

learned Single Judge.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant has invited

the attention of this Court to communication between

6

the respondent No.1 and respondent No.2 and has

submitted that the benefit of interest subsidy ought to

have been granted to the appellant under the scheme.

4. We have considered the submissions made by

the learned counsel for the parties and have perused

the record. Admittedly, the cut off date for grant of

benefit

under

the

interest

subsidy

scheme

is

01.04.2002. In other words, all eligible hotel projects

which

have

been

approved

by

the

Tourism

Department on or before 31.03.2002, are entitled to

benefit of interest subsidy. The proposal for the hotel

project of the appellant was received in May 2005 i.e.

more than 3 years after the closure of the scheme.

The Government of India,

in its order dated

21.09.2015, has assigned valid and cogent reasons for

rejection of claim of the appellant for interest subsidy.

The aforesaid order has rightly been upheld by the

learned Single Judge. We therefore, do not find any

7

ground to differ with the view taken by the learned

Single Judge.

In the result, the appeal fails and is hereby

dismissed.

Sd/-

Sd/-

JUDGE

RV