Entertainment tax applies to mobile phone carriage charges when attendance at race club is conditional on payment.

Charges collected from patrons for carrying mobile phones inside a race club were held taxable as entertainment tax because they were payments connected with the entertainment and required as a condition of attending the horse races. Section 2(m)(iv) of the Delhi Entertainments and Betting Tax Act, 1996 was read broadly to cover any payment, by whatever name called, that is linked to the entertainment and made necessary for attendance. The fact that the payment was described as relating to mobile phone carriage did not take it outside the levy, and a prior settlement between the parties could not defeat a fiscal statute. The challenge to the tax therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether entertainment tax was leviable on the charges collected for permitting patrons to carry mobile phones inside the race club premises as a payment connected with the entertainment and required as a condition of attending the races.

Analysis: Section 6(1) of the Delhi Entertainments and Betting Tax Act, 1996 levies tax on all payments for admission to any entertainment. Section 2(m)(iv) is of wide amplitude and covers any payment, by whatever name called, for any purpose whatsoever, connected with an entertainment, if the payment is required as a condition of attending or continuing to attend the entertainment. The charges collected for carrying mobile phones inside the race club were not a separate or unrelated levy. They were collected only from persons who wished to attend the horse races while carrying mobile phones, and were payable in addition to the normal entry charge. The words of the provision do not require that the purpose of the payment itself must be connected with the entertainment; it is enough that the payment is connected with the entertainment and forms a condition for attending it. The earlier settlement between the parties did not bar the statutory levy, since there can be no estoppel against a fiscal statute.

Conclusion: The charges for carrying mobile phones inside the race club attracted entertainment tax under section 2(m)(iv) read with section 6(1) of the Delhi Entertainments and Betting Tax Act, 1996, and the challenge to the levy failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A payment collected as a condition for attending an entertainment is taxable as payment for admission if it is connected with the entertainment, even if the stated purpose of the payment is not itself part of the entertainment.

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