PIL against movie halls collecting 30 pc Entertainment Tax for

A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking action against movie halls allegedly collecting 30 per cent Entertainment Tax in addition to the ticket fare even for tax-exempted films.
When the matter came up for hearing today, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Rajesh Kumar Agrawal and Justice M Sathyanarayanan directed petitioner G B Motcham to implead the Theatre Owners' Association.
The petitioner, also an advocate, alleged owners of these movie halls were committing fraud on the public and on government by collecting ET even for tax-exempted films.
Motcham's counsel argued movie halls were collecting 30 per cent entertainment tax from recent tax-exempted films like 'Raja Rani','Sutta Kadai' and 'Idarkuthana Assaipattai Balakumara'.

He contended films with Tamil titles are fully exempt from ET from July 22 2006 and that government had stipulated certain conditions such as the films should have 'U' certificate, besides befitting Tamil culture.
Though the benefit of exemption of tax was given, that was not passed to viewers, he added.