Entertainment tax on discotheque cover charges applies only to the admission component, not the full fixed entry fee.

Entertainment tax under the U.P. Entertainment and Betting Tax Act, 1937 applied only to the component of a discotheque cover charge that could be treated as payment for admission to entertainment, not to the entire fixed entry amount. The court accepted segregation of the composite charge by excluding the portion referable to food and drinks, because payment for admission included sums required as a condition of attending the entertainment. Where separate figures were available, the taxable component was calculated directly; where they were not, a comparable ratio was used to estimate the admission element. Tax on the full cover charge was set aside to that extent.

---

---

Issues: Whether entertainment tax under the U.P. Entertainment and Betting Tax Act, 1937 was leviable on the entire cover charge fixed for entry into the discotheques, or only on the component attributable to admission for entertainment.

Analysis: The statutory definition of entertainment covered admissions to places where an entertainment is held, and payment for admission included any payment required as a condition of attending the entertainment. The discotheques did not involve a floor show or cabaret, but the fixed entry charge was not confined to food and drink because a minimum amount had to be paid irrespective of consumption, and only the balance over corresponding food and drink bills represented the unadjusted admission component. The Court accepted the approach that the charge had to be segregated, and that only the part of the fixed charge unconnected with consumption of food and drinks could be treated as payment for admission to entertainment. For one discotheque, the available figures enabled such segregation directly; for the other, where separate figures were unavailable, the same ratio from the comparable discotheque was applied to estimate the taxable component.

Conclusion: Entertainment tax was not payable on the entire cover charge. It was payable only on the portion of the fixed charge attributable to admission, and the levy on the full amount was set aside to that extent.

---