Chennai, Jul 27: The Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of the orders of a single judge levying a cost of Rs one lakh on popular actor Vijay over a luxury car import case and making certain adverse remarks against him.
A division bench of Justices M Duraiswamy and R Hemalatha, which granted the interim stay, however, directed Vijay to remit the balance amount of 80 per cent of the entry tax levied on the import of his Rolls Royce Ghost Car from England in 2012.
He should remit the amount within a week, on receipt of a fresh demand notice from the Commercial Tax department, the judges said.
While dismissing a writ petition from Vijay seeking exemption from entry tax for his imported car on July 13, Justice S M Subramaniam had indicted him for moving the court without paying it and imposed a cost of Rs one lakh on him to be remitted to the Chief Minister's Welfare Fund.
The judge had also observed that reel heroes should be real heroes in real life. After directing him to pay the tax, the judge had dismissed his petition.
Aggrieved, Vijay filed the present appeal.
When the matter came up today, Vijay's senior counsel Vijay Narayan, former Tamil Nadu Advocate-General, told the bench led by Justice Duraiswamy that he was challenging the order of the single judge in so far as it imposed the cost of Rs one lakh and made some unwanted remarks.
The tax liability is not under challenge, he said adding he wants the removal of the remarks and imposition of cost.
Narayan said there was no necessity for the single judge to talk about the benefits of taxation for the country, the ill effects of not paying the same.
The comment that "reel heroes must be real heroes in their lives" was totally unwanted.
There were umpteen number of similar cases and they were either allowed or dismissed by simple and plain orders.
The remarks against Vijay were uncharitable, he contended.
In this connection, he cited a ruling of the Supreme Court which had held that judges were to avoid unwarranted remarks and refrain from doing so.
Directing the Commercial Tax department to file its counter, the bench adjourned the matter till August 31.
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Bantwal: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, a meeting of Congress workers from Bantwala Assembly Constituency was convened at Narayana Guru Sabha Bhavan in B.C. Road. Padmaraj R who. is the Congress candidate for the DK Lok Sabha constituency addressed the gathering and spoke about the party's commitment to serving the people.
Padmaraj highlighted the development projects brought to the district by Congress leaders over the years, including the Port, Airport, N.M.P.T., and K.P.T.C.L. He contrasted this with the BJP's record, urging party workers to confidently seek votes from the people based on Congress's track record of pro-people schemes.
Coming from a humble background, Padmaraj spoke on the value of education and his involvement in social work. He expressed his commitment to working closely with party workers to ensure that their efforts align with the desires of the people.
Former minister Ramanatha Rai, the D.K. district election in-charge, praised Congress's focus on uplifting the poor and highlighted the impact of guarantee schemes implemented by the state government.
DCC president Harish Kumar called on party workers to conduct door-to-door campaigns to publicise the state government's guarantee schemes to win over voters.
Several party leaders and officials, including Geru Corporation President Mamata Gatti, Block Congress Presidents Baby Kunder and Sudheep Kumar Shetty, were also present at the meeting.