West Bengal Finance Act, 1998
No: 3 Dated: Apr, 01 1998
THE WEST BENGAL FINANCE ACT, 1998
West Bengal Act III of 1998
An Act to amend the Bengal Amusements Tax Act, 1922, the Bengal Electricity Duty Act, 1935, the Bengal Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1944, the West Bengal Entertainment-Cum-Amusement Tax Act, 1982, and the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994.
WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Bengal Amusements Tax Act, 1922, the Bengal Electricity Duty Act, 1935, the Bengal Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1944, the West Bengal Entertainment-Cum-Amusement Tax Act, 1982, and the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994, for the purposes and in the manner hereinafter appearing;
It is hereby enacted in the Forty-ninth Year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:-
1. Short title and commencement:- (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Finance Act, 1998
(2) This section, section 3, section 4 and section 5 shall come into ment. force, and shall be deemed to have come into force, on the 1st day of April, 1998; section 2 shall come into force, and shall be deemed to have come into force, on the 1st day of April, 1997; clause (3), clause (5), clause (15), clause (25), clause (26), clause (27), clause (28), clause (29), clause (30), clause (31), and clause (32), of section 6 shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for such different clauses of section 6, and the remaining clauses of section 6 shall come into force, and shall be deemed to have come into force, on the 1st day of April, 1998.
2. Amendment of Ben. Act V of 1922:- In the Bengal Amusements Tax Act, 1922,—
(1) in section 8A, after sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be added:—
"(3) Where—
(a) any proprietor in relation to any entertainment, other than horse racing and cinematograph exhibition, has not obtained any prior permission from the prescribed authority before holding any entertainment, or
(b) any proprietor referred to in clause (a) has not furnished any particulars to the prescribed authority as required under the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder, or
(c) upon enquiry or information received, the prescribed authority has reasons to believe that the proprietor referred to in clause (a) has furnished incorrect particulars at the time of obtaining permission from the prescribed authority to hold any entertainment referred to in this sub-section,
the prescribed authority shall, in such manner as may be prescribed, proceed to assess to the best of his judgement the amount of entertainment tax payable by such proprietor after giving such proprietor a reasonable opportunity of being heard, and direct such proprietor to pay the amount of tax so assessed in such manner and by such date as may be prescribed.";
(2) in section 9, in sub-section (2), after the words "cinematograph exhibition", the words, letter, figures and brackets "or to a proprietor referred to in sub-section (3) of section 8A" shall be inserted;
(3) in section 11E, in sub-section (1), after the words "cinematograph exhibition", the words, letter, figures and brackets "or any proprietor referred to in sub-section (3) of section 8A" shall be inserted.
3. Amendment of Ben. Act X of 1935:- In the Bengal Electricity Duty Act, 1935, in section 3A, in subsection (3), in clause (b), for the words, figures and letters "after the 31st day of December, 1998, whichever is later.", the words, figures and letters "after the 31st day of December, 2000, whichever is later." shall be substituted.
4. Amendment of Ben. Act IV of 1944:- In the Bengal Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1944,—
(1) in section 26D, in sub-section (1), for the words "the first day of January in the financial year in which the advance tax was payable", the words "the first day of the month next following the prescribed date of payment of the last instalment of the advance tax" shall be substituted;
(2) in section 26E,—
(a) in sub-section (1), for the words "the first day of January in the financial year in which the advance tax was payable", the words "the first day of the month next following the prescribed date of payment of the last instalment of the advance tax" shall be substituted;
(b) in sub-section (2), after the word and figures "section 37,", the word, figures and letter "section 38A," shall be inserted;
(c) for sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be substituted:—
"(3) The Commissioner, or such other authority appointed under section 21 as may be prescribed, may, in such cases and under such circumstances as may be prescribed, reduce or waive the interest payable by the assessee under this section or under section 26D,";
(3) in section 38A,—
(a) for the figure, word and brackets "(1) Where", the word "Where" shall be substituted;
(b) after the proviso, the following Explanation shall be inserted:—
'Explanation.—For the removal of doubt, it is hereby declared that where an Agricultural Income-tax Officer is required to modify an order in respect of any assessment, the expression "in respect of assessment" in this section shall mean an assessment relating to the year in which modification is required to be made in accordance with the order passed by an authority specified in sub-section (3) of section 8, and shall include assessment in respect of any subsequent year which is required to be modified in order to give effect to such modification.';
(4) in section 44, in sub-section (la), in the proviso, after the word and figures "section 37,", the word, figures and letter "section 38A," shall be inserted.