On Thursday, the Bombay High Court said that the State Government's waiver of ₹7 crore as entertainment tax for British band Coldplay's concert in 2016 at MMRDA grounds at Bandra Kurla Complex was not "unreasonable".
A bench comprising of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Nitin Jamdar dismissed a PIL by activist Dattatraya Mane who challenged the waiver given to the organiser of the Global Citizen Festival held on November 19, 2016, saying it is an arbitrary decision.
Mane's Advocate Siddhesh Pilankar argued that even the finance department had objected to granting of a waiver, saying that the State was having inadequate funds and a waiver should not be granted. "The organisers had assured ₹130 crore would be generated and ₹1.30 lakh visitors would attend the concert," he said.
But the judges pointed out that the application for waiver states that the money generated would be used towards execution of projects serving social causes through NGOs. "The state has power to waive entertainment tax for a good cause," the Chief Justice remarked, adding that the Bombay Entertainments Duty Act, 1923, does not restrict a waiver.
The Judges also noted that it is not Mane's case that funds generated by the event managers were not used for social causes.
The order has been passed by bench comprising of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Nitin Jamdar on 01-08-2019.
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