2004 PLP 1949 (PTD)

(b) Limits of Islamabad Capital Territory. (iv) Areas falling within the limits of all Municipal Committees and Cantonment Boards in Pakistan. (B) The definition of "Rural Area" was modified in Industrial Policy Circular No.6(12)/90‑Policy, dated 17‑12‑1990 to read as under:‑‑ (1) Rural areas in the context of Rural Industrial Development Incentives shall mean all rural areas excluding: (a) Major Industrial Estates of Hub, Norriabad, Chunian, Hattar and Gadoon and areas up to 10 Kilometres outside their limits. (b)(i) The Municipal limits of Karachi 40 kilometres areas around these limits. (ii) The Municipal/Cantonment limits of Lahore and 30 kilometers around these limits. (iii) The existing limits of Municipal Corporations and their Cantonment Boards and 10 kilometres areas around these limits. (iv) Areas falling within the limits of all Municipal Committees and Cantonment Boards and Islamabad Capital Territory. (C) That on.2‑5‑1992 the Government of Pakistan decided to further modify the scheme. The definition of rural area as earlier notified was also revised and prefaced vide Circular No.6(100)/90‑Policy dated 2‑5‑1992 as under:‑‑ "The Government of Pakistan has announced all together a new package for Rural Industrialization as notified vide Ministry of, Industries Circular No.6(1)/90‑Policy, dated the 17th December, 1990. It ha now been decided that the scope' of rural industrialization scheme may be enlarged to include all industrial estates which are in the rural areas provided they fall outside the prescribed distance from the concerned Municipal Corporation/ Committee limit. As such the definition of rural areas as earlier notified vide Ministry of Industries Circular referred to above has been revised and the new definition is reproduced below alongwith the incentives available under this scheme:‑‑ (i) Rural Areas in the context of Rural Industrial Development Incentives shall mean all Rural Areas excluding:‑‑ (a) Major Industrial Estates Chunain covered under Municipal Committees limits of Pattoki and area of Hub Industrial Estate falls inside the prescribed distance from the concerned Municipal Corporation/Committee limit. (b) The Municipal/Cantonment Board limits of Karachi and Lahore and 30 kilometres areas around these limits. (c) The existing limits of Municipal Corporation and their Cantonment Boards and 10 Kilometres areas around these limits. (d) Areas falling within the limits of all Municipal Committee and Cantonment Boards and Islamabad Capital Territory. (D) That on 15‑6‑1992 the Federal Government in exercise of the Power conferred by subsection (2) of section 14 of Income Tax Ordinance issued Notification No.S.R.O.897(I)/92,dated 15‑9‑1992 containing definition of "Rural Areas" reads as under:‑‑ "(118d)(1) Profits and gains derived by an assessee from an industrial undertaking set up between the first day of December, 1990, and the thirtieth day of June, 1995, both days inclusive, for a period of five years beginning with the month in which the undertaking is set up or commercial production is commenced, whichever is the later. (2). The exemption under this clause shall apply to an industrial undertaking which fulfils the following conditions, namely:‑‑ (a) that it is set up in an area not covered by clause (118C) outside the limits of any Municipal Corporation or Municipal Board and Islamabad Capital Territory and in no case within the following area namely:‑‑ (i) up to thirty kilometres form the Municipal or Cantonment limits of Karachi or Lahore; and (ii) up to ten kilometres from the existing limits of Municipal Corporation or Cantonment Boards.

8. The definition of "Rural Area" as in above reproduced Circular No.6(100)/90‑Policy, dated 2‑5‑1992, and Notification No. S.R.O. 897(I)/92, dated 15‑9‑1992 applicable to the present case, determines the entitlement to the benefits/concessions/incentives under the Rural! Industrial Development Incentives Scheme. Only a project or an industrial establishment located within the "Rural Area" can benefit from the said scheme. The petitioner is admittedly located outside the ten kilometres limit of Sheikhupura Municipality, thus it falls in "Rural Area" as per Article 1(i)(c) of the revised Policy Circular, dated A 2‑5‑1992 and clause (a)(ii) of S.R.O. No. 897(1)/92, dated 15‑9‑1992. The petitioner also falls within the thirty kilometres limit from Lahore) Municipality. Applying the Lahore distance, the petitioner gets excluded from the "Rural Area" under Article (1)(b) of the Circular, dated 2‑5‑1992 and clause (a)(i) of S.R.O., dated 15‑9‑1992. The overlapping of limits has thus created a conflict situation. Respondent‑Department has interpreted the conflict in its favour in reference to Lahore limits to deprive the petitioner of benefits, incentives and the certificate under the Policy. The petitioner, contrarily, claims to be within the "Rural Area" taking Sheikhupura Municipal limits as the start line.

9. Technically both the parties are right as well as wrong. In their respective interpretations they are within the parameters of the Policy Circular and the S.R.O. This conflict has been caused by the ambiguity in the said Policy Circular and the S.RO. Arising of such a conflict, issue or contradiction from the clauses of the revised Policy Circular and the S.R.O. was natural as well as predictable. With a little attention such disputes or issues could have been resolved by incorporating either an overriding clause or a dispute resolution clause. Failure of the framers and authors of the Policy Circular and the S.R.O. in stipulating such a clause has created the ambiguity or absurdity, which on one hand grants the entitlement but on the other takes away the same. The provisions of the Circulars and the S.R.O. to that extent are contradictory as well as destructive of the object of Rural Area Development Scheme.

10. In view of the above ambiguity, absurdity and contradiction, jurisdiction of 'this Court has been invoked to construct the meaning of the above referred policy circular, dated 2‑5‑1992 and S.R.O., dated 15‑9‑1992. The rules of interpretation are that where the language of al statute, in its ordinary meaning and grammatical construction, leads to a manifest contradiction of the apparent purpose of the enactment or to some inconvenience or absurdity, hardship or injustice, a construction C may be put upon to modify the meaning of words, or even the structure of the sentence. Such construction must, however, advance the purpose of the enactment or the legal instrument and should be in accord with the requirements of justice and economic equities.

11. Keeping in view the above rule of construction, the absurdity arising from the overlapping limits of two prescribed distances from the two Municipal limits can only be resolved by reference to the boundaries of the concerned Municipality and the Revenue/administrative territorial limits of the District in which the Municipal Committee/Corporation is located. The clue to adoption of this methodology has been adduced from the preface of the applicable Policy Circular No.6(100)/90‑Policy, dated 2‑5‑1992 reproduced above. The particular relevant lines therein are D that:‑ "It has now been decided that the scope of Rural Industrialization Scheme may be enlarged to include all industrial estates which are in the rural areas provided they fall outside the prescribed distance from the concerned Municipal Corporation/ Committee limit. As such the definition of rural areas as earlier notified vide Ministry of Industries Circular referred to above has been revised "

12. The object of the above circular was to revise the definition of the "Rural Area" to enlarge the scope of Rural Industrialization Scheme. It restricted and shrunk the Urban Areas to exclude industries existing therein from the benefits of the Scheme. But it enlarged the rural areas to include "All industrial estates which are in the rural areas provided they fall outside the prescribed distance from the concerned Municipal Corporation/Committee limits". The first territorial limit was that of the concerned Municipal Corporation/Committee. The second limit was that of the prescribed distance from the concerned Municipal Corporation/ Committee limit. Only the area falling outside these limits was defined as the "Rural Area". The start line thus was the limit of "concerned" Municipal Corporation/Committee and the reference point was the concerned Municipal Corporation/Committee.

13. The term "concerned" has not been defined in the above policy circular. This term is thus to be given its ordinary meaning and routine nomenclature. Oxford Advanced Dictionary of Current English by A.S. Hornby defines `concern' as "have relation to; affect, be of importance to "and" relation or connection in which one is interested or which is important to one". As such the "concerned" Municipal Committee/Corporation for the petitioner is the one affecting the petitioner and having some importance for or relation or connection with the petitioner. Such a Municipal Corporation/Committee can only be where the petitioner on the basis of its location, ordinarily and normally petitions to seek redressal of its ordinary grievances qua enforcement of its rights guaranteed under the Municipal laws. For the petitioner it is obviously the Municipal Committee of Sheikhupura which governs the petitioner for the purposes of local representation, local taxation, fees, cesses, amenities, permissions, approvals, rights, remedies and duties under the applicable Municipal and local laws like the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, etc. and, the rules framed thereunder. Furthermore, the petitioner for the purposes of rights and obligations under other laws falls within the administrative, judicial and Revenue limits of the District Sheikhupura within the boundaries of which the concerned Municipal Committee and the petitioner are located. The petitioner in any way does not advert to the Lahore Metropolitan Corporation. The limits of Lahore, Metropolitan Corporation and 30 kilometres prescribed distance therefrom cannot therefore be taken to be the determining zone concerning the petitioner For the above reasons, I am of the opinion that the prescribed distance of 10 kilometres around the limits of Municipal Committee Sheikhupura is the prohibitory zone for the petitioner. The project of the petitioner is outside this prohibitory zone at 13 kilometres from the Limits of Sheikhupura Municipal Committee, wherefor it is held that the petitioner is located in the "Rural Area" and is entitled to benefits and incentive of the scheme and S.R.O.

14. Even otherwise, the law is well‑settled that in case a statute or a legal instrument is open to two interpretations, the one beneficial to the citizen is to be adopted. Moreso in the case where the ambiguity, I confusion or absurdity has been created by the authors and framers of the law, policy or notifications. For the resolution of the ambiguity, equity and law thus lean in favour of the citizen and against those who created the confusion or absurdity.

15. The objections of the respondents regarding lapse of policy period of the earlier order, of 1993 do not in any way make his petition unmaintainable. In judgment, dated 29‑1‑2002 the Honourable Division Bench of this Court decided the question of the application of import licence fee as 2% and directed the petitioner to obtain release of its bank guarantee furnished under the Court's interim orders. This obviously provided a new and fresh cause to the petitioner to seek Rural Area Certificate from the respondents whose denial vested the locus standi and a grievance in the petitioner to file the present Constitutional petition. Furthermore, on the terms of the policy relating to question of licence fee, litigation terminated on 29‑1‑2002. The purported lapse of five years duration of policy therefore, does not debar the petitioner to benefit from the judgment in its favour to obtain release of the bank guarantee, which is dependent on the grant of the Rural Area Certificate by the respondents.

16. Under these circumstances, this petition is accepted and the impugned orders, dated 9‑9‑2002 and 18‑11‑2002 passed by Director, Industries (Planning Section) and order, dated 21‑7‑2003 passed by the S Secretary, Industries Department, Government of the Punjab, denying Rural Area Certificate to the petitioner are declared to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect. The respondents shall issue the requisite Rural Area Certificate‑to the petitioner within a period of thirty days. There shall be no order as to costs. S.A.K./O‑2/L Petition accepted.