West Bengal Finance Act, 2001
No: 16 Dated: Jul, 31 2001
THE WEST BENGAL FINANCE ACT, 2001
West Bengal Act XVI of 2001
An Act to amend the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, in its application to West Bengal, the Bengal Amusements Tax Act, 1922, the Bengal Electricity Duty Act, 1935, the Bengal Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1944, the West Bengal Entertainments And Luxuries (Hotels And Restaurants) Tax Act, 1972, the West Bengal Duty On Inter-State River Valley Authority Electricity Act, 1973, the West Bengal State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1979, the West Bengal Luxury Tax Act, 1994, the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994, , and the West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) Act, 1999.
WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, in its application to West Bengal, the Bengal Amusements Tax Act, 1922, the Bengal Electricity Duty Act, 1935, the Bengal Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1944, the West Bengal Entertainments And Luxuries (Hotels And Restaurants) Tax Act, 1972, the West Bengal Duty On Inter-State River Valley Authority Electricity Act, 1973, the West Bengal State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1979, the West Bengal Luxury Tax Act, 1994, the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994, , and the West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) Act, 1999, for the purposes and in the manner hereinafter appearing;
It is hereby enacted in the Fifty-second 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, 2001.
(2) Save as otherwise provided, it shall come into force on such date, or shall be deemed to have come into force on such date not earlier than the first day on May, 1995, as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act.
2. Application and amendment of Act 2 of 1899:- (1) The Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act) shall, in its application to West Bengal, be amended for the purpose and in the manner hereinafter provided.
(2) In Schedule IA to the principal Act, in article 40, for the entry in the second column, against item (b) in the first column, the following entry shall be substituted:—
"Rupees ten for every Rs. 500 or part thereof, for the amount secured by such deed, subject to the maximum of Rs. 1,00,000.".
3. Amendment of Ben. Act V of 1922:- In the Bengal Amusements Tax Act, 1922,—
(1) in section 2, after clause (3a), the following clause shall be inserted, and shall be deemed to have been inserted, with effect from the 31st day of January, 1996:—
`(3b) "The Commissioner of Entertainments Tax" means the Commissioner of Agricultural Income-tax, West Bengal, appointed by the State Government under sub-section (2) of section 21 of the Bengal Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1944.';
(2) in section 3,—
(a) in sub-section (3a),—
(i) for the words "seventy per centunt of such value:", the words "sixty-five per centuin of such value:" shall be substituted;
(ii) in the second proviso, for the words "or Nepali", the words ", Nepali or Santhali" shall be substituted;
(b) for sub-section (3c), the following sub-section shall be substituted:—
"(3c) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (3a), the entertainments tax shall not be charged, levied or paid on such part of the value of each ticket for admission to any cinematograph exhibition as represents service charge realised separately from any person in respect of his admission to such cinematograph exhibition and such service charge shall be at a rate-
(i) not exceeding rupees two in the case of a fancooled cinema hall,
(ii) not exceeding rupees two and fifty paise in the case of a blowercooled cinema hall, and
(iii) not exceeding rupees three in the case of an airconditioned cinema hall,
for the purpose of incurring expenditure towards electricity, repair, maintenance, and for the benefit of the employees, of such cinema hall and the service charge so realised shall be utilised in such manner as may be prescribed.";
(c) in sub-section (3d),—
(i) for the words, figure, letter and brackets "Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (3c), no claim", the words, figure, letter and brackets "No claim under sub-section (3c)" shall be substituted;
(ii) for the words ", for maintenance of such cinema hall or for providing air-conditioning facilities therein.", the words, letter, figure and brackets ", for the purposes referred to in sub-section (3c)." shall be substituted;
(3) in section 11,—
(a) in sub-section (1), after the words "The Collector", the words ", the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax" shall be inserted;
(b) in sub-section (2), after the words "The Collector", the words ", the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax" shall be inserted;
(c) in sub-section (3), after the words "the Collector", the words ", the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax" shall be inserted;
(d) sub-section (4) shall be renumbered as clause (a) of that sub-section and in clause (a), as so renumbered,—
(i) after the words "the Collector", the words ", the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax" shall be inserted;
(ii) after clause (a), the following clauses shall be inserted:-
"(b) The Collector or the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax may forward to the Bureau of Investigation constituted under section 7 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994, any case of alleged or suspected evasion of entertainments tax or show tax as well as malpractices connected therewith for investigation and enquiry and the said Bureau of Investigation shall send a report in respect thereof to the Collector or the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax, as the case may be.
(c) The Bureau of Investigation may, for the purpose of carrying out any investigation or making any enquiry referred to in clause (b), exercise all the powers under the section exercisable by different authorities referred to in this section.";
(e) in sub-section (5), after the words "The Collector", the words ", the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax" shall be inserted;
(4) in section 11A,—
(a) in sub-section (2), after the words "the Collector", the words ", the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax" shall be inserted;
(b) sub-section (3) shall be renumbered as clause (a) of that sub-section and—
(i) in clause (a), as so renumbered, for the words "Such authority as the State Government may specify in this behalf", the words "The Collector or the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax, as the case may be," shall be substituted;
(ii) after clause (a), the following clause shall be inserted:—
"(b) On payment of the sum compounded under clause (a) no prosecution for any offence punishable under this Chapter, or the rules made thereunder, shall be instituted or proceeded with in respect of the same fact for which composition of such offence has been made under that clause.";
(5) in section 11B, for the words "of the State Government", the words "of the Collector, or the Commissioner of Entertainments Tax, as the case may be," shall be substituted.