Maharashtra: Government Resolution issued to release Jackson event earnings

The amount earned from the show, held in Mumbai on November 1, 1996, has been lying in the HC treasury due to a legal dispute over it

The state issued a government resolution (GR) on Monday to release the money that the then Raj Thackeray-led Shiv Udyog Sena (SUS) had earned by organising a Michael Jackson concert in Mumbai on November 1, 1996 at the Andheri Sports Complex.

The amount earned from the show was deposited in the high court treasury by the organiser – Wizcraft – after the matter went into litigation over a tax waiver approved by the government.

After the then Shiv Sena government granted a tax waiver, the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat had challenged the decision. It argued that the duty waiver given was arbitrary and said that the SUS, which no longer exists, was not registered as a charity organisation when the waiver was granted. Subsequently, the Bombay High Court asked to deposit the profit earned in its treasury. In 2011, the court asked the state government to reconsider the waiver within eight weeks, but the decision has been pending since then.

The GR issued by the Revenue Department justified the waiver by saying that the Jackson show was about beat music, not the cabaret or ball dance forms. “Pop music’s roots can be traced to Rock n Roll, which is compatible with beat music. The event is eligible for a duty waiver as per the previous decision,” it said.

Raj Thackeray had conceptualised the event and invited Jackson to perform. Some 50,000 fans had turned up to see the ‘King of Pop’ in action. He had formed the SUS to generate employment for locals.

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