Oct 2nd deadline set to clear entertainment tax dues by LCO’s in Nashik

Nashik district collectorate has decided to issue notices to the local cable operators (LCOs) who have not cleared entertainment tax dues since April 1 and has threaded to snap transmission to the cable customers falling under their region from October 2nd.

"The total amount deposited with the collectorate as part of entertainment duty has gone up to Rs 1.25 crore from 150 LCOs, who have filed affidavits of the number of customers with them along with the multi-system operators (MSOs), even as there are nearly 40 more LCOs yet to clear their dues. In the last meeting, we decided to issue notices to the LCOs asking them to either clear the dues or face suspension of transmission for indefinite period, which will affect their customers," district collector Vilas Patil said.

Since the implementation of the conditional access system (CAS) in the city from April 1, only digitised signal will be transmitted through the LCOs and the customers will require a set top box (STB) with unique numbers to decode the signal.

"The district administration has computed that there are nearly 1.78 lakh customers in the city and the entertainment duty charged at Rs 45 per customer per month amounts to Rs 4 crore at the end of five months (till August-end), of which, the LCOs are not paying the dues. Repeated meetings and warnings have led to 150 LCOs clearing Rs 1.25 crore dues with the collectorate and 74 LCOs, who had already approached the court on the issue, depositing Rs 25.50 lakh with the court. We have now decided to issue notices to the rest of the LCOs, asking them to clear the dues or face suspension of transmission of the signal," the collectorate said.

Sources from entertainment tax department said the collector had the right to suspend signal from the MSOs because according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guidelines, the MSOs are responsible for clearing the dues. "We had been collecting the dues from the MSOs, but the process was challenged by the LCOs, who went to court. Now, those who have still not cleared the dues will face suspension of signals as well as the licence to transmit signal ," the sources said, adding that this would completely put a stop to the business of LCOs concerned.

Since the deadline to pay the duties was Friday, the administration has decided to issue a final notice on Monday, and without wasting time, start cutting the transmission from October 3, the officials said.

When pointed out that the honest customers paying taxes would be discomforted, the administration said that this move would rather help the cause as the LCOs would be compelled to pay the dues. "Before the Ganesh festival, we had warned the LCOs of discontinuing signal if they failed to clear dues. The records show the number of LCOs clearing dues have sprung up from 25 to 150 till today. We will have to use the same weapon again," the official said, adding that other routes like attaching the property, getting valuation for the same and issuing notices for auctioning it under various acts was a lengthy process. The right to terminate the transmission, on the other hand, was an easy and an effective measures that collectorate could take against the defaulters.

However, some of the LCOs had earlier decided not to pay the sum as they wanted the duty to be revised from Rs 45 per customer per month to less than Rs 15. They were waiting for the state government's order, but since that is taking time many have decided to pay the sum..

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/3301-oct-2nd-deadline-set-to-clear-entertainment-tax-dues-by-lco%E2%80%99s-in-nashik.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/3301-oct-2nd-deadline-set-to-clear-entertainment-tax-dues-by-lco%E2%80%99s-in-nashik.html