HC halt’s 2% cinema cess collection
CH NEWS, BENGALURU Movie theater owners and multiplex operators received major legal relief today. The State Government officially assured the High Court that it will not issue any official notices or take coercive action regarding the collection of a newly proposed two percent welfare cess on cinema ticket sales. Major industry players, including the Multiplex Association, PVR INOX, and Vinayaka Theatres, jointly approached the High Court. They filed formal petitions to challenge the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Cinema and Cultural Workers Act of 2024. The state enacted this controversial law to collect extra money from ticket buyers to support local cinema and cultural workers. During the court session before a single-judge bench, Additional Advocate General Bhanuprakash requested additional time to submit formal state objections. Recognizing that the core legality of the entire statute is under serious legal dispute, the presiding bench ordered that authorities take zero punitive action for the next two weeks. In response, government counsel formally agreed to hold off on all ticket cess notices. Noting this promise, the bench officially recorded the assurance and adjourned further legal arguments to October 26. Legal counsels for the theaters raised strong constitutional objections during the proceedings. Advocate K.V. Dhananjay argued that state entertainment taxes were completely absorbed by the Goods and Services Tax framework. He pointed out that since the state already receives a fixed fifteen percent share of collected GST revenue, imposing an additional state-level entertainment tax violates current financial laws. Furthermore, Senior Advocate Uday Holla, representing the multiplex operators, argued that the state plans to redirect the collected theater cess toward unrelated cultural bodies, such as dance and drama academies. Lawyers maintained that forcing moviegoers to fund these separate groups is completely unlawful, leaving the entire welfare act vulnerable to being struck down by the judiciary entirely.
