SC stays HC order on Levy of Stamp Duty on Advertisement Agreements

Heard Mr. Arvind P. Datar, learned senior counsel for the petitioner, Indian Broadcasting Foundation and Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned senior counsel for the State of Maharashtra. It is submitted by Mr. Datar, learned senior counsel that the State of Maharashtra could not have levied stamp duty on the execution of the document pertaining to advertisement, for what it cannot do directly, cannot be permitted to do indirectly in law. To elaborate, the State Legislature cannot impose tax on anything shown on electronic and print media, that is to say, on the television, radio and newspaper. Learned ...