KERALA FINE ARTS SOCIETY REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY Vs. STATE OF KERALA REPRESENTED BY CHIEF SECRETARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appeals arise from the judgments in the Writ Petitions, in which the petitioners were held to be covered under the Kerala Tax on Luxuries Act, 1976 (for short 'the Act'). The two Writ Appeals are with respect to the assessment and penalty imposed for the years 2005-06 to 2008-09. Both the appellants are Societies registered under the Travancore Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955. Both of them own separate auditoriums, one in Muvattupuzha and the other in Ernakulam. They rent it out for functions both public and private. However, they do not rent out any rooms for accommodation, as is done in a hotel. They would not come under the term 'luxury' for reason of there being no rooms for rent, is the compelling contention.

(2.) The impugned judgment noticed the contention of the appellants that Section 4 and Section 2(f) would only apply in cases of auditoriums, where there is accommodation provided for residence; for consideration. The impugned judgment extracted the definition, the charging section as also the provision for computation and held that there is no ambiguity in the provisions and they do not exclude an auditorium, which offers itself for rent for public and private functions even if the auditorium does not have any rooms for residence. The amenity provided by the petitioners was found to be a 'luxury' as defined in Section 2(f) of the Act, attracting the charging section being Section 4.

(3.) The learned Senior Counsel again took us through the definition. It is pointed out that Section 2(f) speaks of "accommodation for residence" or "use" and "other amenities and services". The charging section, which is Section 4, again speaks of hotels, halls, etc., which are "rented out for accommodation for residence" or "used for conducting functions". However, the provision for computation as available in Section 4(2)(c) reads as under: