The Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh has ruled that to levy entertainment tax on entertainment provided by either cable TV network or DTH services or any other emerging technology is not illegal.
Dismissing a bunch of writ petitions filed by leading direct-to-home services providers challenging the State Government's decision to levy entertainment tax on sale of its equipments as well as on recharge coupons, the Court has said that the State Legislature was not denuded by its powers to levy entertainment tax.
A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Sunil Ambwani and Justice Aditya Nath Mittal has turned down the petitions filed by the DTH service providers after receiving notices from the state government for payment of entertainment tax. The petitioners had contended that the State had no power to impose the tax.

The court has also rejected the demand to declare an impugned section of the UP Entertainment and Betting Tax Act as ultra vires(beyond the legal power or authority of a person or official or body) of the Constitution. The Court has also dismissed the petitioners' contention that the rate of entertainment tax on DTH services was discriminatory in comparison to the cable services.