A couple of weeks after actor Vijay’s plea seeking tax exemption for his imported car was struck down, a similar petition filed by actor Dhanush in 2015, seeking exemption of entry tax for his imported car, got listed before the Madras High Court on Tuesday, The Hindu reported.
However, when Dhanush’s case was called, no one representing the actor appeared in court. The name of advocate S Govindaraman is listed as the actor’s counsel for the case.
Justice SM Subramaniam, who had earlier dismissed Vijay’s plea by passing an order with highly critical remarks, directed the Registry to list Dhanush’s case for passing orders on Thursday along with another writ petition filed by Billroth Hospitals, also seeking entry tax exemption.
It may be noted that Justice Subramaniam’s order, which noted that “tax evasion is to be construed as an anti-national habit, attitude and mindset and is unconstitutional” and included strongly-worded remarks against Vijay, was stayed by the Madras High Court on July 27 after it was challenged by the actor.
Dhanush had approached the court after he faced issues when trying to register his imported car. The Regional Transport Officer had asked him to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Commercial Tax Department before registering his car. The tax department, however, had insisted upon the payment of ₹60.66 lakh as entry tax before it would issue the NOC.
The actor then filed a writ petition at the Madras High Court seeking exemption of that entry tax in 2015.
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An interim order in the case was passed by Justice N Kirubakaran on October 26, 2015, directing the RTO to register the actor’s car on condition that he deposit 50% of the tax amount within two weeks.
Later, the time limit was extended and Dhanush paid the specified amount on November 18, 2015. The judge then directed the RTO on April 27, 2016 to register the vehicle in accordance with the usual terms and conditions. However, no final order was passed on the case and the writ petition had been pending before the court since then.