Movies
PVR INOX scores relief as Karnataka HC quashes cinema cess enforcement
Court says cess could not be collected without valid notification bringing 2024 Act into force
BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has quashed measures used to enforce a 2 per cent cess on cinema tickets, coming as a relief to the Multiplex Association of India and PVR INOX.
A single-judge bench led by Justice H.T. Narendra Prasad held that the steps taken to operationalise and collect the cess could not be sustained because the Karnataka Cine and Cultural Activists (Welfare) Act, 2024 had not been validly brought into force through a notification under Section 1(2) of the Act.
The petitioners had challenged the 2024 Act, the Karnataka Cine and Cultural Activists Social Security and Welfare Rules, 2025, the 2026 amendment to the Act and various notifications, office orders, circulars and enforcement notices issued to implement the cess at cinema halls and multiplexes.
At the centre of the challenge was the argument that no valid commencement notification under Section 1(2) had been published in the Official Gazette appointing a date for the Act to come into force.
The petitioners also argued that the Rules, appointments, office orders and enforcement notices could not substitute the statutory requirement for a commencement notification. They had further challenged the constitutional validity of the Act, its amendment, the Rules and the implementation measures.
During the proceedings, the State filed a memo stating that it was withdrawing its 29 August 2026 Circular/Office Order, which had directed mandatory collection and remittance of the 2 per cent cess on cinema tickets from 1 September.
The court took note of the withdrawal and also quashed the other measures challenged by the petitioners that had been issued to enforce the cess.
The court held that these measures could not stand in the absence of a valid commencement notification under Section 1(2) of the 2024 Act.
The writ petition was accordingly allowed, providing relief to cinema halls and multiplex operators from the enforcement measures linked to the 2 per cent cess.
The ruling puts the focus back on the statutory procedure required before the Karnataka government can operationalise the cinema cess, particularly the need for a valid notification bringing the underlying legislation into force.
