MUMBAI: The Gujarat High Court has directed all the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service providers in the state to pay up entertainment tax for the July-September 2010 quarter with the state government.

In its directions, the bench comprising Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice Akil Kureshi directed Tata Sky, Dish TV India, Bharat Business Channel (d2h) and Bharti Telemedia (Airtel digital TV) to deposit the tax due for the said quarter before 17 January.
  
The Court is hearing a case related to the question whether or not the DTH providers can be held liable to pay entertainment tax to the state government.

The Court has also been requested to decide on whether or not the companies fall in the category of entertainment providers. The petitioner companies approached the HC challenging an amendment to the entertainment tax provisions that enabled the government to levy tax on them for broadcast of entertainment channels.

The matter would come up for final hearing on 14 February.