Badar Durrez Ahmed, J.

1. These petitions raise common issues and are, therefore, being decided together. Briefly put, the challenge is to the Delhi Entertainments and Betting Tax Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as 'the said Act') to the extent it imposes a tax on entertainment through 'direct-to-home (DTH) service'.

Rival Contentions

2. Mr Ganesh, senior advocate, appearing for Bharti Telemedia Ltd. and Mr Aman Lekhi, senior advocate, appearing for Tata Sky Ltd. and Bharat Business Channel Ltd, contented on behalf of the Petitioners that the DTH service is a broadcasting service falling within the meaning of taxable service under Section 65(105)(zk) of the Finance Act, 1994 and is amenable to service tax 10.33% on the gross amount paid by a subscriber for providing the DTH broadcasting service. The service tax is imposed by the Finance Act, 1994 in exercise of Parliament's exclusive power to levy a tax on services under Article 246(1) read with Entry 92C of List I of the VI Ith Schedule to the Constitution of India. It was also contended on behalf of the Petitioners that Parliament alone has the exclusive power to tax DTH services and that the States do not have any power