Madras HC stays single judge order against actor Vijay
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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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
