Pune: Relief For Multiplex Theatre Operators As Entertainment Tax Recovery Claim Settled
Pune, 10th December 2022: The Maharashtra state Revenue Department has disposed of the claim in the case of illegal tax collection of Rs 71.22 crores by the owners of six multi-screen theatres in Pune, while the entertainment tax was waived.
However, during this tax amnesty period, it came to light that the six multi-screen theatre owners in the city were collecting this tax from the audience. The Revenue Department had ordered the theatre owners to deposit this illegally collected tax to the government. A notice is also issued to confiscate this amount if it is not paid.
The theatre owners had appealed to the district collector for the action of the district administration. The district collector rejected this claim. The owners appealed to the Divisional Commissioner and the then Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil. He also heard the case but rejected the demand and ordered a deposit of the amount along with the fine.
Against this order of the revenue minister, the multi-screen theatre operators appealed in the Bombay High Court. The court had again sent the matter to the Revenue Department for a hearing. Therefore, this case has been pending with the Revenue Department since 2018.
Meanwhile, a hearing was held in front of Ashwani Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue Department. After hearing both sides, he said there is no substance in the case of multi-screen theatre operators collecting illegal entertainment tax from the audience. Also, the case was settled because there was no strong evidence.
The district administration had issued a notice to the owners of these multi-screen theatres regarding depositing the entertainment tax collected from the audience during the entertainment tax exemption period to the government and charging penal interest as per sections nine and nine-b of the Bombay Entertainment Charges Act, 1923.
In this notice, it was stated that the amount to be recovered would be 18 per cent interest for the first 30 days and 24 per cent interest for the subsequent period of Rs 150 crore. The verdict was in favour of the theatre operators.
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