A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court recently refused to allow a Public Interest Litigation relating to levy of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on free tickets on the ground that the petition was based on newspaper reports.
The petitioner, in the instant case, approached the High Court seeking a direction to the respondents to pay GST @ 18% on complimentary tickets given for the four IPL matches held in Usha Raje Holkar Stadium, Indore. According to the petitioner, Kings XI Punjab took the Usha Raje Holkar Stadium from the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association for the IPL matches held on 04, 06, 12 & 14th of May, 2018 @ Rs.3.00 crore per match on the basis of sitting capacity of the stadium. They distributed free passes of the matches worth of Rs.80.00 lac to the respondents.
They further relied on the decision of the AAR Madhya Pradesh holding that complimentary tickets are subject to GST. They contended that since the tickets were distributed to the respondents on complimentary bases without payment of GST, the enquiry is liable to be conducted through CBI & GST is also liable to be recovered from them.
The bench comprising Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Ashok Kumar Joshi noted that the entire petition is based on the newspaper published in the local newspaper about distribution of free passed worth of Rs.60.00 lac to Collector. No other material has been produced in the present petition in support of the allegations.
Dismissing the petition, the bench observed that “The present petition is also based on the newspapers report, hence, same is not liable to be entertained and accordingly dismissed. However, liberty is granted to the petitioner that he can approach this Court if he collects some credible material in respect of the allegations made in the petition.”
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