Karnataka - Bangalore

Cinemas question discriminatory tax slab

BANGALORE: Several cinemas in Bangalore on Wednesday filed an appeal against a single judge order questioning the discriminatory tax slab on Kannada and non-Kannada films in the State.

A Division Bench comprising Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice L. Narayanaswamy reserved for orders an interlocutary application (IA) by Cauvery, Kailash, Urvashi, Pallavi, Tribhuvan and PVR cinemas seeking to set aside the single judge order of September 17, 2008.

The cinemas said the single judge had allowed 0 per cent tax on Kannada films and 40 per cent on non-Kannada films, which amounted to discrimination and was against the Constitution.

They said there are 750 cinemas in the State and that they had in 2007 contributed tax worth Rs. 56 crore. The six cinemas had accounted for 29 per cent of the State’s tax collection.

Justice Nagmohan Das on Wednesday asked a public prosecutor to ensure the presence of officials of the Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB) who had filed a case against a bar and restaurant in Gandhinagar for electricity theft in 1996.

The KEB had filed a case under the Indian Electricity Act and alleged that the owner of the bar and restaurant owed dues totalling Rs. 9.4 lakh, which had been dismissed by a lower court.

The State had filed an appeal against the lower court order.

Justice Ajit Gunjal on Wednesday permitted students of the three-year law course of R.K. Law College to appear for the examination slated to commence shortly.

The students had been barred from appearing for the examination after Bangalore University conducted an inspection and found that the college lacked basic infrastructural facilities.

Several residents of Chennapatna village in Kasaba hobli of Hassan district have field a petition in the High Court against the acquisition of their lands by the Hassan district administration for the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) to set up an additional cattle feed plant.

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