Entertainment tax waiver for music festival 'not unreasonable': HC

The Bombay High Court on Thursday said the Maharashtra government's decision to grant entertainment tax waiver for the Global Citizens Festival held in November 2016 was "not unreasonable". A division bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice N M Jamdar dismissed a public interest litigation filed by one Dattatraya Mane objecting to the waiver given to the organisers of the festival.

The petitioner said the festival organisers should be asked to pay entertainment tax leviable under the Bombay Entertainments Duty Act. The bench noted that the organisers had sought waiver on the ground that the profits from the festival would be used towards projects serving social causes.

The petitioner, however, claimed that granting such a waiver was not justified as the state government was facing a financial crunch. The bench, however, noted that the government had the power to take such decisions.

"If the organisers of an event make personal profits then decision to waive the tax could possibly be faulted. But when funds generated are used for social causes then the tax being waived could be justified," the court said. "Thus, we cannot hold that the tax being waived was unreasonable," the judges said.

International music band Coldplay and artists like Jay Z and A R Rahman performed at the festival held in November 2016 at the MMRDA Ground in suburban Bandra Kurla Complex.