Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:107521-DB Court No. - 3 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 6859 of 2025 Petitioner :- Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd. Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ashish Mishra Counsel for Respondent :- Alok Mishra,C.S.C. Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf,J. Hon'ble Praveen Kumar Giri,J. 1. This writ petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenging the order dated 29.11.2024, whereby the claim of the petitioner for refund of the exempted electricity duty has been rejected by the respondent concerned. 2. Upon perusal of the relevant notification bearing No. 1765/24-3- 2009-2000 (124)/09, Lucknow: Dated January 21, 2010, it is clear that as per the the Uttar Pradesh Industrial and Service Sector Investment Policy, 2004, all industrial units were eligible for exemption from electricity duty for a period of 10 years. The subsequent notification bearing No. 276/24-P-3-2018, Lucknow: Dated 05 February, 2018 has categorically stated as follows: "4. The adjustment of electricity duty deposited against energy consumed by units established before issuance of notification dated 21.01.2010 and after enactment of Industrial and Service Sectors Policy 2004, will be done from the date of issuance of this notification. 5. The claims submitted by New and Pioneer Units w.e.f 21.01.2010 for electricity duty as per law will be adjusted form date of enactment of this notification and the time period for adjustment can be increased as per requirement. 6. If any units shut, it can avail reimbursement of electricity duty exemption from Director, Electricity Safety. 7. For Example:- i. Establishment date of new unit-01 April, 2007. ii. Period of Electricity Duty exemption from 21.01.2010 to 21.01.2020. iii. Date of enactment of present notification 05.02.2018. iv. From 21.01.2010 to 04.02.2018 (Till date of enactment of present notification) will be credited to beneficiary. v. Electricity Duty will be exempted from 05.02.2018 to 21.01.2020 vi. After 21.01.2020 the credited amount will be adjusted against present Electricity Duty till the entire credited amount gets adjusted. 8. Industrial units will have to submit their claims in prescribed format to Director, Electricity Safety and units submitting claims to Director, Electricity Safety only will be allowed adjustment of exemption amount. Along with the claim, the Certificates of being New Unit and Pioneer Unit issued by competent authority duly verified by concerned officer authorized for electricity duty exemption shall have to be submitted." 3. Upon a perusal of the relevant clauses, especially Clause 7, it is clear that from the year 2010 to 2018, i.e. till the date of enactment of the 2018 notification, the amount would be credited to the beneficiary and from the period 05.02.2018 till the period of completion of 10 years, the electricity duty would be exempted for the unit. 4. In the present case, the petitioner had started its unit on 10.12.2011. Therefore, the exemption period would be from 10.12.2011 to 09.12.2021. 5. It is to be noted that the petitioner's industrial unit closed on 05.09.2022. 6. In light of the same, the reasoning provided in the impugned order, wherein the refund exemption has been rejected on the ground that the unit is shut, seems to be a flimsy ground without any basis in law. The petitioner's unit was entitled to the exemption for the relevant period when it was running for 10 years and, accordingly, the impugned order is arbitrary, without any basis in law, and is, accordingly, quashed and set aside. 7. The authority concerned is directed to revisit the issue and after granting opportunity of hearing to the petitioner, pass a reasoned order in accordance with law within a period of eight weeks from the date. 8. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. Order Date :- 8.7.2025 K.Tiwari (Praveen Kumar Giri, J.) (Shekhar B. Saraf, J.) Digitally signed by :- KRISHNA KANT TIWARI High Court of Judicature at Allahabad