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High court seeks govt affidavit in suit against Navratri mandals

A division bench of the Bombay high court, comprising Chief Justice M B Shah and Justice Y S Jagirdar has directed the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit in response to a public interest litigation which appealed for levying entertainment taxes on the Navratri mandals.

The petition was filed by social activist Pradeep Bhavnani, who pleaded that Navratri mandals are now being run as commercial organisations, and taking into consideration their hefty incomes from Dandiyas, the state government should impose entertainment tax. He said taxes should be levied on them under the Bombay Entertainment Duty Act.

The petitioner pointed out that they are pricing their tickets heavily which ranges from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 per couple per night. Similarly, some of the mandals earn as much as Rs 2.5 million to Rs 50 million per day, while in season they collect Rs 25 million to Rs 450 million.

He said in the name of Navratri, they are run like full-fledged commercial organisations, and the government should impose taxes on their earnings.

UNI

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