important point
Fashion show is an entertainment event and amenable to entertainment tax.

judgment

Altamas Kabir, J. —

1.Leave granted.

2.This appeal by way of Special Leave involves the question as to whether entertainment tax was payable by the appellant in respect of a fashion show held at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on 9th July, 2000 at St. Andrews Inter College for the selection of “Mr. Gorakhpur” and “Miss Gorakhpur”.

3.As it would appear from the materials on record, the appellant was found to be the organiser of the aforesaid fashion show which had been held without the permission of the District Magistrate. On the basis of enquiry, it was found that entertainment tax had not been paid for performing the aforesaid fashion show and accordingly a show cause notice was issued to the appellant which was replied to by the appellant. Not being satisfied with the explanation given, the District Magistrate assessed a sum of Rs.43,270.00 by way of entertainment tax for the programme and a further sum of Rs.20,000.00 by way of penalty which was imposed upon the Cambridge Intertia Group under whose banner the appellant is said to have arranged the fashion show.

4.In his reply to the show cause notice dated 11th July, 2000 under Section 12 of the Uttar Pradesh Entertainment and Betting Tax Act, 1979 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the 1979 Act’), the appellant contended that he was only a choreographer of Cambridge Intertia Group which arranged the programme. The appellant contended that the programme, as arranged, did not attract the provisions of the aforesaid Act and that the show cause notice was without jurisdiction. A specific stand was also taken that Section 5 of the 1979 Act provided that any programme relating to entertainment could not be held without prior permission but that since the programme was not entertainment within the meaning of the Act, the same had been held by the Institution with prior intimation to the office of the District Magistrate. It was reiterated that the programme was of a competitive nature and there was no element of entertainment involved. Furthermore, neither was any cultural, music and dance programme conducted nor was any amount collected from the spectators by way of entry fee. According to the appellant, the show was organised as a charity show with the specific purpose of publicising the event, inasmuch as, there was a proposal initiated by Ms. Neetu Nathaniel (Respondent No. 7 herein) for establishing an Institute of Art, Fashion Designing and Modelling at Gorakhpur in collaboration with the Respondent No. 8, Smt. S. Mishra, proprietor of the Cambridge Intertia Group.

5.Another stand taken by the appellant in the reply to the show cause notice was that Miss Neetu Nathaniel was the Director and Smt. S. Mishra was the Convener of the show and that the entire programme had been conducted under the direction of Miss Neetu Nathaniel. In his reply, the appellant requested the District Magistrate to issue notice to Miss Neetu Nathaniel who could enlighten him as to the alleged collection of money against tickets sold and funds collected from the organisers. Since the appellant was only a Choreographer and his main function was to provide information about the candidates participating in the programme, he denied that he had been involved with the holding of the programme other than as a Choreographer for the show.

6.As mentioned hereinabove, by his order dated 24th July, 2000 the District Magistrate, Gorakhpur did not accept the explanation offered by the appellant and also the contention that Miss Neetu Nathaniel was, in fact, the Director of the programme with Smt. S. Mishra as the Convener. The District Magistrate chose to rely on the report submitted by his Department as to the collection of entry fee from the spectators and funds from the organisers. Reference was also made to other shows of similar nature held in Gorakhpur where fashion shows had been held after depositing the entertainment tax payable in respect thereof and after obtaining the permission of the District Ma