Thiruvananthapuram: No entertainment tax waiver for public

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite a high court order to this effect, those who saw the film Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho will not benefit from the Thiruvantharapuram Corporation’s belated waiver on entertainment tax on Tuesday. The Corporation waived off the entertainment tax on the movie at a council meeting held on Tuesday, almost five months after the LSGD issued a Government Order announcing the exemption.

As the entertainer, released in September 2016, is not running in theatres anymore, viewers, who paid the tax constituting 20 per cent of the ticket charges, are not going to benefit. However, the producer will now benefit from the exemption. In 2009, when a tax waiver was announced on Malayalam movie ‘Pazhassi Raja’, the Kerala High Court had passed an interim order directing local bodies to ensure that the benefit was passed on to viewers.

The writ petition, which prompted the interim direction, alleged that cinema owners and producers were appropriating the concession. Though bound by this order, local bodies are unable to follow it. In this particular case, it is because of the slow wheels of government machinery, according to Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar. “I have not checked the date when the Corporation received the Government Order. However, as soon as we get the communication, the file work starts. There are several formalities, before it gets presented before the finance committee, and later the council. The process is time consuming,” she said.3