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Tag: Delhi govt

  • Furnish details of cable connections, Delhi Govt asks operators, MSOs wary of cascading effect

    MUMBAI: The Delhi government has ordered cable operators to furnish the number of subscribers, an attempt which seems to be driven by the idea of increasing entertainment tax collection. Cable operators generally pay entertainment tax based on the number of their connections. It is unclear whether the government plans to claim tax from retrospective effect or not, and what is the period it is claiming tax for.

    Speaking to www.indiantelevision.com, the country’s apex body for digital multi-system operators (MSOs) All-India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) secretary-general Saharsh Damani agreed that he had come across reports of local cable operators (LCOs) receiving tax notices. If the government were to demand and recover entertainment taxes from LCOs for the last 4-5 years, Damani opined, it would become difficult for the operators to survive commercially. If the LCOs were severely affected, it would obviously have had a cascading severe effect on the MSOs, he added.

    A written communication has reportedly been sent to multi-system operators (MSOs) to submit details of their local cable operators and cable connections at the earliest, according to the entertainment tax department. However, Den Networks CEO SN Sharma, speaking to www.indiantelevision.com, denied receiving any communication so far. Damani also replied in the negative.

    The department has reportedly asked MSOs, around 20 in Delhi, to provide details of their cable connections with each local cable operator (LCO). The department has also sought details of addresses and phone numbers of local cable operators under them, an official said. The decision has been taken to increase tax collection, the official said.

    According to the department, the government had collected Rs 160.72 crore in taxes in the financial year 2014-15, while it increased to Rs 261.94 crore in the fiscal 2015-16.

    The Delhi High Court had recently held that MSOs and LCOs distributing television signals to subscribers directly are liable to collect and pay entertainment to the government. The court’s decision came on pleas filed by four MSOs – Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd, DEN Networks Ltd, IndusInd Media and Communications and SITI Cable Network Ltd. They had moved the court challenging the levy of entertainment tax and vires of the Delhi Entertainment and BettingTax Rules.

    The four had sought quashing of the Delhi government’s 17 December, 2012, circular and show cause notices issued in January 2014 directing them to deposit tax beginning April 2013. Delhi had threatened to halt cable TV transmission of the MSOs by closing their headends. The government had stated that the assessment of the MSOs bared that they had been indulging in tax fraud in crore since April 2013. 

    A bench of justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Badar Durrez Ahemed, however, quashed the Delhi government’s December 2012 circular and show-cause notices served by its Department of Entertainment Tax asking the MSOs to to pay entertainment tax or face action.

    Also Read:

    Entertainment tax: MSOs & LCOs must collect & pay, HC halts Delhi ‘action’

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  • Delhi govt TV ads ‘beyond responsibility’: CAG

    MUMBAI: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s audit report on Friday said that advertisements released outside Delhi last year, constituting around 86 per cent of the total expenditure of Rs 33.4 crore, was “beyond the responsibility” of the Delhi government.

    The state government explained that the ads were issued outside Delhi because there was “immense potential to promote trade, tourism, and retail businesses…the achievements made in critical sectors such as health, education, etc were highlighted to attract best talent and businesses to the national capital.”

    CAG also grilled the state government for its plan to establish ‘Shabdarth’ as its in-house ad-agency, saying the aim was to reduce the cost of official publicity.

    The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, the CAG found, invested Rs 28.7 crore on ads outside the capital in a single campaign during its first year in office. The auditor also stated that some contents of the publicity material violated the Supreme Court’s guidelines on acceptable matter in such ads, the Times of India reported.

    Between 14 and 17 February, 2016, the Delhi government inserted advertorials in 26 national and 37 regional newspapers in 14 states. Nine television clips were sanctioned for broadcast on 89 channels, including regional ones, between 15 February and 1 March, while seven radio jingles were aired between 13 and 19 February.

    CAG, however, did not find the explanation tenable since the jingles and TV clips showed the achievements not as those of the government but “of a political party”. Besides, the advertisements were “not linked to GNCTD’s constitutional and legal obligations towards the citizenry of NCT of Delhi.”

    The audit report listed ads worth Rs 24.2 crore released in this period as not conforming to the apex court guidelines. While the television and print ads referred to the Delhi government as “AAP government” and “Kejriwal sarkar” or as “AAP”, some of those also carried pictures of Delhi ministers in violation of the SC guidelines.

    The government has argued that “Kejriwal sarkar” was simply “a nomenclature used by the public… to refer to Delhi government.”

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  • Delhi govt approves online entertainment tax application for ticketed events

    Delhi govt approves online entertainment tax application for ticketed events

    MUMBAI: The Delhi Govt approved the first online application for Entertainment Tax on 23 September, 2015 based on a post-event settlement, which is a major breakthrough for the events and entertainment industry.

     

    The approval was done online in a record time of two hours, where previously the same could take several months.

     

    In August this year, The Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) in collaboration with the Govt. of Delhi and the Police department of Delhi took several steps to simplify licensing for events and eliminate red tape and touts. A process was put into place whereby EEMA member companies can do ticketed events in the national capital without paying entertainment tax before the event. The first achievement in this direction is the online approval for the soon-to-be-held Zubin Mehta concert in Delhi.

     

    The development entails a single-window approval system, which is online for all non-ticketed events. Large ticketed events are likely to make their way back to the capital as the partnership between EEMA and the Delhi government has led to an online approval system for ticketed events too with elimination of pre-payment of tax, pre-event stamping of tickets and blockage of funds for tax payments.

     

    EEMA president and Wizcraft International founder director Sabbas Joseph said, “We are delighted to see our enduring efforts come to life and turn into reality. This is just one door open and still a major step ahead. Alongside the path breaking steps by the Delhi government, the Maharashtra Chief Minister Mr Devendra Fadnavis too has announced that venues would have pre-approved licenses and a single–window clearance system would be implemented shortly. We hope that the efforts of the CMs  from Delhi and Maharashtra pave the way for similar moves across the country.”

     

    The first ticketed show under this new licensing regime would be a concert by maestro Zubin Mehta performing live in Delhi after 15 years. The approvals were given online in less than two hours on 23 September, 2015.

     

    The show will be produced by Showtime Events. “I could not have imagined this speed of action in my wildest dreams! It seems the Commissioner means business and is determined to change the face of entertainment in Delhi,” said Showtime Events managing director Michael Menezes. 

     

    Due to antiquated tax rules and strangulating licensing norms in Delhi, companies were loathe to hold events and shows in the city and instead preferred Gurgaon or Noida as locations for the event staging.

     

    Earlier this year, The Delhi Government was forthcoming and eager to make Delhi India’s event-friendly capital city. Following a detailed EEMA representation and persistent efforts, the Delhi government moved at a rapid pace in streamlining the licensing process in Delhi and yielding promising results for the event industry. The Delhi Govt. also appointed antiquated tax rules and strangulating licensing norms commissioner Sanjay Kumar as the nodal officer for creation of the single-window licensing process, with an eye on ease-of-doing-business.

     

    What’s more, the complimentary ticket scenario has also got a thumbs down. Leading the way, Kejriwal publicly declared that no minister or MLA of his party will ever ask for free tickets to any event or movie.