HC held that, pursuant to the 101st Constitutional Amendment and...

HC held that, pursuant to the 101st Constitutional Amendment and enforcement of the U.P. GST Act, 2017, the State Legislature lacks legislative competence to levy advertisement tax under the impugned municipal bye-laws. Relying on a co-ordinate Bench decision, which had already declared similar advertisement tax provisions ultra vires Article 265 of the Constitution, the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 and the U.P. GST Act, 2017, the HC reaffirmed that the concerned bye-laws are without statutory authority. Consequently, the impugned demand notice and consequential recovery certificate seeking advertisement tax for the period 13.02.2018 to 12.02.2019 were quashed. The writ petition filed by the assessee was allowed in entirety.