Mumbai: The Maharashtra Cabinet on Wednesday will make a decision on the reversal of a waiver offered to the occasion management organization Wizcraft for the Michael Jackson concert it had helped organise in 1996. The then Sena-BJP government had granted an entertainment tax waiver, stating that the occasion was a charity occasion organised beneath the now defunct Shiv Udyog Sena, then headed by Raj Thackeray.
The profit from the show, amounting to Rs 3.4 crore, has been deposited in the court registry given that a dispute was lodged by the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat. The then Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government had supplied a waiver beneath section 6(3) of the Maharashtra Entertainment Duty Act, 1923.
The higher court had not too long ago directed that the cabinet make a decision on reversing the waiver, which implies the complete quantity, along with interest, may well have to be offered to the organiser.
Interestingly, having said that, the Shiv Udyog Sena, and not Wizcraft, was listed as the organiser of the concert. However, in court, Wizcraft has claimed the income. The challenge has been listed on the agenda for the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
However, there is a political angle to the cabinet proposal, offered the estrangment among Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Raj Thackeray. The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has not too long ago gone saffron, altering the colour of its party flag. There have been speak of a probable alliance among the MNS and the BJP. Even although each parties insist there is no truck among them for the BMC elections, each are on the similar web page when it comes to the challenge of action against illegal residents from Bangladesh and Pakistan in the nation.
The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s move comes at a time when the MNS has stepped up its attacks against the former. The MNS has criticised the state government on the shifting of metro car or truck shed from Aarey Colony to Kanjurmarg, its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the Sena’s going away from Hindutva.