Eden Gardens isn't public place, CAB not liable to pay ad tax to KMC: HC
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Kolkata: Eden Gardens cannot be considered a public place, Calcutta High Court has ruled, upholding a single judge's order that Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is not liable to pay advertisement tax of over Rs 51 lakh to Kolkata Municipal Corporation for advertisements put up inside the stadium during the 1996 World Cup.
"It is not the dimension of a place or the number of people that visit a particular place that would determine the nature of a place as 'private or public'. The only criterion must be whether or not members of public have an unrestricted right of access to that place. Applying this test, Eden Gardens Stadium cannot be held to be a public place," a division bench of justices Arijit Banerjee and Kausik Chanda held in the June 19 order.
Dwelling on what constitutes a public place — KMC Act does not have a definition for it — the bench clarified that it meant any place that was open to people. "Any member of the public must have access to that place without any restriction. Nobody's permission should be required for visiting such a place… For example, the Maidan in Kolkata is undisputedly a public place. The riverside is also a public place. Any member of the public has absolute, unconditional, and unrestricted access to such places at any time," the bench explained.
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Eden Gardens had hosted the 1996 World Cup inaugural match and a semi-final on Feb 11 and March 13. KMC had issued a demand note to CAB for Rs 51,18,450 as tax on ads put up inside and outside the stadium. CAB moved HC and won the case in 2015, but KMC challenged the single judge order.
The division bench, however, was not keen on interfering with the single-bench order. It was not happy with the two days' notice given to CAB to reply to the demand note and reprimanded KMC for initiating criminal proceedings without giving CAB a hearing.
The bench also noted that the notice sent by KMC did not have a bill breakdown. It also considered Article 285 of the Constitution that exempts Union property from state taxation — CAB enjoys a lease of the Eden Gardens ground, which is owned by the defence ministry.
The division bench held, "CAB is the lessee of the property where the stadium is situated… Take, for example, that a rich person owns a private stadium which can accommodate 200,000 people.
He organises sports activities in the stadium and sells tickets which interested spectators can purchase for watching the activities inside the stadium. On a particular day, games are played before a packed stadium. Hoardings are put up by brand owners inside the stadium which are visible only to people who are inside the stadium.
Would KMC be entitled to impose advertisement tax in respect of the same? We think not. Although 200,000 spectators may be viewing the advertisements, the private stadium is not a public place. The owner of the stadium will be entitled to deny entry to an interested person even if he offers to pay for a ticket."
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