The Division bench of the Allahabad of High Court has recently upheld the provisions of U.P. Entertainment and Betting Tax requiring pre-deposit for filing appeal.
While dismissing two writ petitions challenging Section 12(3), as inserted by U.P. Entertainment and Betting Tax (Amendment) Act, 2009, the bench clarified that the provision is not arbitrary.
In the instant case, the petitioners, engaged in business of providing entertainment to viewers through cable connections, contended that the provisions, being arbitrary, shall be struck down.
Sub section 3 of section 12 reads as, “No appeal shall be entertained by the State Government unless the proprietor has paid the undisputed amount of the tax and at least one-third of the disputed amount, assessed under this Act.”
The bench observed that the right to appeal is a statutory right which is not absolute and is subject to conditions. If someone files an appeal regarding certain amendments or orders then primarily he should fulfill the conditions mentioned in the order or amendments. Here in this case the assesses does not fulfilled the condition relating to the deposit requirement.
The bench comprising of Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Ravindra Nath Mishra, after analyzing the provision, said that the requirement of deposit is only of one-third of disputed amount while two-third amount has been dispensed with. Hence the challenge by the petitioners to the validity of the section 12(3) as inserted by the amendment has failed.
“There is nothing on record and pleadings are also lacking to show that even this requirement of deposit of disputed amount is so onerous that it renders right of appeal, nugatory or virtually confiscatory in nature,” the bench added.
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