Jamshedpur, Feb 27 : The Jharkhand state high court Tuesday admitted TataIron & Steel Company's writ petition against the stay order passed by thecommissioner of commercial taxes on the sales tax exemption allowed to thecompany's cold rolling mill (CRM).According to sources in the company's legal team in Ranchi, the governmenthas been given four weeks' time to file a counter-affidavit. Tata Steelwould then get the opportunity to file a rejoinder, they said.
Tata Steel had been granted an eight-year sales tax exemption on August 2000for raw materials used in its Rs 1,300-crore CRM and on products going outof it ex-Jharkhand.
However, some politicians belonging to the ruling BJP coalition governmentin the state recently alleged that the steel major obtained the sales taxexemption unfairly.
Tata Steel refuted the charges strongly saying that it had "strictlycomplied with all the four essential conditions laid down in the BiharIndustrial Policy 1995" for qualifying for sales tax exemption.
Asked how much sales tax burden would the withdrawal of the exemption meanto the company, Tata Steel corporate communications chief Sanjay Singh saidon Sunday, "for the current financial year the burden on this account willwork out to Rs 4 crore to Rs 5 crore."
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
