LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday restrained the Punjab government from collecting entertainment duty from three more cinemas of the city and sought reply within a week.

Owners of Shabistan, Empire and Metropole cinemas filed petitions, pleading that the imposition of entertainment duty was illegal and without lawful authority.

Earlier, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed also granted stay to Gulistan Cinema in the same matter.

The petitioners had taken a plea that the entertainment tax was an excise duty and under the Constitution only federal government was empowered to impose such a levy.

They said the government in 2004 had exempted the cinemas from the said duty for two years that was further extended for three years which expired in 2009.

But now the provincial government announced that the exemption would be available for Pakistani movies while no such concession would be given to English and Indian movies.

They requested the court to restrain the government from imposing the impugned entertainment duty till the final decision on their petitions.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/23/2010