Exclusion from charging provision bars exemption conditions for musical programmes under the entertainment tax statute.

A live musical concert was treated as falling within Schedule III of the Gujarat Entertainments Tax Act, 1977, which expressly includes musical programmes and excludes them from the charging provision. Because the entertainment was already placed in a non-taxable category under section 3A, the exemption mechanism in section 29, which applies to taxable entertainments and imposes conditions for exemption, could not be applied. The Supreme Court rejected the State's attempt to read a restriction into the plain language of the statute and held that exemption conditions cannot be superimposed on an excluded class of entertainment. The levy therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether a live musical concert fell within Schedule III to the Gujarat Entertainments Tax Act, 1977 so as to be outside the charging provision, and whether the conditions attached to exemption under section 29 could still be imposed.

Analysis: Section 3 is the charging provision, while section 3A excludes specified entertainments from tax. Schedule III expressly includes all kinds of musical programmes, without qualification. Once the entertainment falls within that non-taxable category, the exemption mechanism under section 29, which applies to taxable entertainments and requires satisfaction of specified conditions, cannot be superimposed. The speech relied upon by the State did not justify reading a limitation into the plain language of section 3A and Schedule III.

Conclusion: The live musical concert was covered by Schedule III and was not liable to entertainment tax on the basis of section 29 conditions; the challenge to the levy succeeded and the appeal was allowed in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the legislature expressly excludes a class of entertainments from the charging provision by placing it in a schedule, the taxing authority cannot impose exemption conditions applicable to taxable entertainments on that excluded class.

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