Subscriber-wise entertainment tax assessment required; set top box records cannot replace the statutory basis for levy.

A consolidated entertainment tax imposed on each connection given to a subscriber under Section 3AA, read with Rules 19A and 23A, must be assessed on a subscriber-wise basis because the taxable event depends on the end user receiving the cable connection. Assessment by reference to set top boxes recorded in the dealer's register, rather than identified subscribers, was inconsistent with the statutory scheme and an impermissible shortcut. The assessment orders and consequential demand notices were quashed, and the matter was remitted for fresh assessment in accordance with law.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessment orders levying entertainment tax under Section 3AA of the Bihar Entertainment Tax Act, 1948 were valid when the levy was worked out on the basis of set top boxes recorded in the petitioner's register instead of the number of subscribers.

Analysis: Section 3AA, read with Rules 19A and 23A of the Bihar Entertainment Tax Rules, 1984, levies a consolidated tax on each connection given to a subscriber. The statutory scheme makes the taxable event dependent on the subscriber receiving the cable connection, and the definition of subscriber in Section 2(q) identifies the end user, not the set top box. The assessment orders did not proceed on subscriber-wise identification, but on the number of set top boxes found in the petitioner's records. That mode of assessment was held to be contrary to the statutory framework and a short-cut inconsistent with the legislative scheme.

Conclusion: The assessment orders and consequential demand notices were quashed, and the matter was remitted for fresh assessment in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a tax is statutorily imposed on connections given to subscribers, assessment cannot validly be made on the basis of set top boxes or other substitute records unrelated to subscriber-wise liability.

---