The West Bengal Entertainment-cumamusement Tax Act, 1982

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL 
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 
West Bengal Act VI of 1982 
THE WEST BENGAL ENTERTAINMENT-CUM- 
AMUSEMENT TAX ACT, 1982. 
[Passed by the West Bengal Legislature.] 
[Assent of the Governor was first published in the Calcutta Gazette, 
Extraordinary, of the 28th September, 1982.] 
[28th September, 1982.] 
An Act to provide for the levy and collection of entertainment-cum-
amusement tax on and from the holders of television sets' in West 
Bengal. 
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the levy and collection of 
entertainment-cum-amusement tax on and from the holders of television 
sets in West Bengal for raising additional resources for the benefit of the 
State and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto; 
It is hereby enacted in the Thirty-third Year of the Republic of India, 
by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:- 
1. (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Entertainment-cum-
Amusement Tax Act, 1982. 
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal. 
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, 
by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. 
2. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or Definitions. 
context,— 
(a) "holder of a television set" means a person in whose name a 
licence is issued in respect of any television set under the 
17 of 1933. 	 Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and includes a person, 
who is, for the time being, found in possession of any 
television set irrespective of its size or whether it is black and 
white set or colour set, and irrespective of the fact whether the 
person holds such licence or not; 
Short title, 
extent and 
commence-
ment. 
103 
The West Bengal Entertainment-cum-Amusement Tax Act, 1982. 
[West Ben. Act 
(Sections 3-5.) 
Taxing 
authorities. 
Levy and 
collection of 
tax. 
Payment of 
tax and 
penalty. 
(b) "month" means a month reckoned according to the British 
calendar; 
(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; 
(d) "tax" means the entertainment-cum-amusement tax levied 
under this Act; 
(e) "year" means the year commencing on the first day of 
January and ending on the thirty-first day of December. 
3. (1) The State Government shall prescribe an authority (hereinafter 
referred to as the prescribed authority) for carrying out the purposes of this 
Act. 
(2) The State Government may appoint persons to assist the prescribed 
authority and may specify the area or areas over which they shall exercise 
jurisdiction. 
(3) Any powers, duties or functions of the prescribed authority may be 
delegated to the persons appointed under sub-section (2) in accordance 
with such rules as may be prescribed. 
(4) The prescribed authority and the persons appointed under sub-
section (2) shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of 
section 21 of the Indian Penal Code. 
4. Subject to the other provisions elsewhere contained in this Act, 
there shall be levied and collected on and from every holder of a television 
set or sets an entertainment-cum-amusement tax at the rate of rupees fifty 
for each year per television set, held or possessed by him: 
Provided that if the holder of a television set or sets becomes liable to 
pay the tax after the 30th day of June during a year, he shall be liable to pay 
during that year one-half of the amount of tax as specified above. 
5. (1) Subject to the provision of sub-section (2), every holder of a 
television set shall pay the amount of tax due from him for any year to the 
prescribed authority in the prescribed manner on or before the last day of 
February of that year. If any holder of a television set fails to pay the 
amount of tax due from him on or before the aforesaid date, he shall be 
liable to pay a penalty at the rate of rupees five per month or a part thereof 
per television set, till the tax and the penalty are fully paid by him. 
(2) Where any holder becomes liable to pay the tax during a year after 
the last day of January of that year, he shall pay in the prescribed manner 
the amount of tax due from him on or before the last day of the month 
succeeding the month in which he becomes so liable and on his failure to 
45 of 1860. 
104 
The West Bengal Entertainment-cum-Amusement Tax Act, 1982. 
VI of 1982.] 
(Section 6.) 
pay the amount of tax due from him on or before the aforesaid date he shall 
be liable to pay a penalty at the rate of rupees five per month or a part 
thereof per television set, till the tax and the penalty are fully paid by him: 
Provided that if in any year the holder of a television set becomes liable 
to pay the tax as specified in the proviso to section 4, the rate of penalty for 
default of tax for that year shall be one-half of the rate of penalty specified 
in this sub-section. 
6. (1) No tax shall be leviable in respect of any television set owned 
and used by the Central Government or any State Government, or the 
Corporation of Calcutta or any Municipality, Zill Parishad, Panchayat 
Samiti or Gram Panchayat. 
(2) No tax shall be leviable in respect of any television set owned and 
used by an educational institution, which is recognised by the State 
Government or by any officer authorised by the State Government in this 
behalf and which, on an application being made to the prescribed authority 
in the prescribed form, is exempted by such authority, after such enquiry 
as it deems fit to make, from payment of the tax, subject to such terms and 
conditions as may be prescribed. 
(3) The prescribed authority, on an application being made to it in the 
prescribed form by a dealer in, or a manufacturer of, television sets who 
keeps such sets for the purpose of trade, may grant, on such terms and 
conditions as may be prescribed, to such dealer or manufacturer a certificate 
in the prescribed form to the effect that during the period the certificate is_ 
in force the dealer or the manufacturer, as the case may be, shall not be 
liable to pay any tax: 
Provided that before granting such certificate the prescribed authority 
shall make such enquiry as it deems necessary. 
(4) No tax shall be leviable in respect of any closed-circuit television 
set. 
(5) Any holder of a television set, who has paid the tax in respect of 
that set and claims that he shall not use or he has not used that set 
throughout the year, for which the tax is paid, may apply to the prescribed 
authority in the prescribed form for a certificate of exemption from 
payment of tax for the relevant year. If the prescribed authority is satisfied, 
on such enquiry as it deems fit, that the claim is proved by the applicant, 
it may grant the certificate of exemption to the applicant, subject to such 
terms and conditions as may be prescribed. 
Exemptions. 
105 
The West Bengal Entertainment-cum-Amusement Tax Act, 1982. 
[West Ben. Act 
(Sections 7-10.) 
(6) Any holder of a television set, other than a dealer in, or a 
manufacturer of, such set, who on an application made to the prescribed 
authority in the prescribed manner satisfies such authority that he ceases 
to be a holder in respect of that set with effect from a date prior to the 1st 
day of July of a year, shall be entitled to the exemption of fifty per cent. of 
the tax and of fifty per cent. of the penalty payable under section 4 and 
section 5 respectively for that set for that year. 
(7) No tax shall be leviable on such other television sets as may be 
prescribed. 
Refund. 	 7. The prescribed authority shall, in the prescribed manner, refund to 
any holder of a television set, who has paid any excess tax or penalty and 
who, on an application made, satisfies such authority that— 
(i) he stands exempted from payment of tax under any of the 
provisions of section 6 and the penalty so paid, or 
(ii) he has paid the tax or penalty in excess of the amount due 
from him under this Act. 
Power of 
search. 
Recovery of 
tax and 
penalty in 
arrears. 
Appeal and 
rectification 
of mistakes. 
8. The prescribed authority may search any building, premises or 
place in which it has reason to believe that any television set, the holder of 
which is liable to pay tax, is kept or concealed and ask the person or persons 
in whose building, premises or place the television set is found, necessary 
questions for determination of the liability to pay tax. 
9. All arrears of tax and penalty due from the holder of a television 
set, shall, after giving such holder one month's notice, be recoverable as 
arrears of land revenue under the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 
1913. 
10. (1) Any holder of a television set aggrieved by the notice served 
on him under section 9 or by an order made under this Act or the rules made 
thereunder, may appeal, to such authority and in such manner as may be 
prescribed, within thirty days from the date on which he receives such 
notice or an intimation of such order or within such further period as may 
be allowed by such authority for cause shown to its satisfaction. 
(2) The appellate authority shall dispose of the appeal in the prescribed 
manner. 
(3) Subject to such rules as may be prescribed, the prescribed authority 
may, of its own motion or upon application, rectify any mistake in the 
notice referred to in section 9 and issue a revised notice. 
Ben. Act III 
of 1913. 
106 
The West Bengal Entertainment-cum-Amusement Tax Act, 1982. 
VI of 1982.1 
(Sections 11-13.) 
11. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any Indemnity. 
officer of the State Government for anything which is in good faith done 
or intended to be done in the discharge of his duties under this Act or the 
rules made thereunder. 
12. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official 
Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act. 
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the 
foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the matters which 
may be, or are required to be, prescribed or made by rules. 
13. If any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of the provisions of 
this Act, the State Government may, by order, do anything which appears 
to it to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of removing the 
difficulty: 
Provided that no such order shall be made, after the expiry of a period 
of two years from the date of commencement of this Act. 
Power to 
make rules. 
Power to 
remove 
difficulties. 
    
107 

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