JUDGMENT

Dr. AR. Lakshmanan, J.

The State of West Bengal \026 Department of Finance, Calcutta and two others are the appellants in this appeal. Leave was granted by this Court on 30.03.2001 and pending disposal of the appeal, stay of operation of the judgment and order under challenge was passed.

The above appeal is directed against the final judgment and order dated 04.08.2000 passed by the High Court at Calcutta in W.P.T.T. No. 338 of 2000 whereby the High Court allowed the writ petition filed by respondent Nos. 1 and 2 and declared clause (ii) of sub-section (4a) of Section 4A of the West Bengal Entertainment-cum-Amusement Tax Act, 1982 (as amended by the West Bengal Finance Act, 1998) is ultra vires to the Constitution.

Respondent No.1 carries on business as a Multi System Operator (hereinafter referred to as ’MSO’) and is engaged in receiving and providing TV signals to individual cable operators of various localities. The respondents are receiving communication signals known as TV signals broadcast by various satellite channels and are distributing the same to the sub-cable operators. The process involved in the business consists of establishment of state of the art control rooms