New Delhi, Nov. 7: The Supreme Court has asked Bengal and a host of other states to explain why they charge higher entertainment tax on films in languages other than the official state language, after a distributor called the practice socially divisive.

The query came on a case related to higher taxes on non-Telugu films in Andhra Pradesh but the two-judge bench included over a dozen more states in its notice.

The court had in 2007 ruled that such discriminatory taxes on non-Telugu films were illegal, but the Andhra government circumvented that order by introducing different slabs for films “produced inside the state” and those outside.

A Hyderabad-based distributor of Hindi movies moved the apex court against this April 2008 notification, which slapped a 20 per cent tax on films produced outside the state and 7 per cent on those produced in Andhra. The earlier rate was 24 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

In Bengal, the government levies 10 per cent entertainment tax on Bengali movies and 30 per cent on the rest barring those in languages like Nepali and Sikkimese.

So while Bengali film Prem Amar paid an entertainment tax of 10 per cent, Bollywood flick Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani has to cough up 30 per cent.

The petitioner, Rajan Sharma, proprietor of Aashirwad Films, slammed the new tax regime — introduced under the Andhra Pradesh Entertainments’ Tax Act, 1939 — as “hostile”.

“This act is clearly ‘hostile’ to the interest of residents of Andhra who may wish to watch films in one or more Indian languages — Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya and Chhattisgarhi,” the 49-year-old said.

Sharma also said the move to replace the words “Telugu films” with “films produced in Andhra Pradesh” was meant to circumvent the apex court’s 2007 order, as no Telugu film had ever been produced outside Andhra.

In his petition, Sharma said the higher entertainment tax was meant to inhibit exhibition of Hindi films in non-Hindi-speaking states. Discrimination on the basis of language was socially divisive, he alleged.

Neighbouring Karnataka, Sharma added, levies zero entertainment tax on Kannada movies but charges 40 per cent on non-Kannada movies.

Justices S.H. Kapadia and Aftab Alam issued notices to Andhra, Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Sikkim, Manipur and Orissa.

The petition also made the Union I&B ministry a party to the case.

Sharma said the Andhra notification was a “wanton violation of Articles 14, 19(1)(a), and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution” as it stifled cinematic expression. It also violated Article 23 which prohibited discrimination on the basis of region, he said.

But Arijit Dutta of Calcutta’s Priya Cinema said it was “fair enough”. “I feel every state government should give a little more impetus to the state language,” Dutta said.