After Slapping Hefty Fine To Actor Vijay, Madras HC To Hear Dhanush's Tax Exemption Case On Thursday

Earlier, the HC has slapped a penalty of Rs 1 lakh against actor C Joseph Vijay for failing to pay the entry tax for importing a luxury car in 2012. A similar case was filed by actor Dhanush in 2015

Dhanush Rolls Royce. (Image: ABP Nadu)

Chennai: A few weeks after the Madras High Court Justice SM Subramaniam slapped a huge penalty against Tamil actor C Joseph Vijay for seeking exemption from paying entry tax for his imported luxury car, he is set to pronounce judgement in a similar case filed by actor Dhanush in 2015. The judgement is to be delivered on Thursday. 

Dhanush’s case got listed before the court on Tuesday. When the case was called, no one appeared before the court to represent the actor. However, the judge went through the case files and directed the concerned officer to list the case along with a similar petition filed by Billroth Hospitals for passing orders on Thursday, according to judicial sources reported by The Hindu.

In 2015, the actor had moved the court after a Regional Transport Officer (RTO) directed him to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the commercial tax department before registering his imported car.

The department in turn had directed him to pay a sum of Rs 60.66 lakhs as entry tax to issue the NOC. While hearing the case, Justice N Kirubakaran had passed an interim order in October 2015 directing the RTO to register Dhanush’s car on the condition that he should pay 50 per cent of the tax amount within two weeks.

However, the time limit was extended and he paid Rs 30.33 lakhs in November of the same year. When it was brought to the knowledge of Justice M Duraiswamy in April 2016, he directed the RTO to register the vehicle in accordance with the law. The case has been pending before the court since then. 

It is only on July 13, 2021, the High court has slapped a penalty of Rs 1 lakh against actor C Joseph Vijay for failing to pay the entry tax for importing a luxury car in 2012. The Justice had also directed the actor to pay the tax to the commercial tax department within two weeks. However, the actor appealed against the order, and a bench comprising Justice M Duraiswamy and R Hemalatha on July 27, stayed the order.