Tamil Superstar Thalapathy Vijay has got relief from the Madras High Court towards paying the penalty for evading entry tax in 2005 luxury car import case. The Madras HC on Friday ordered that Vijay will be paying the penalty for delayed payment of entry tax only from January 2019 to December 2021, and not from 2005, when the luxury car was imported from the United States.
A batch of writ petitions was filed by Vijay, Musician Harris Jayaraj and others in the case. Justice R Suresh held all of them liable to pay entry tax since a Division Bench of the HC, on 20 January 2019, made it clear that the Tamil Nadu Government was entitled to levy the tax on the import of the expensive BMW car.
The Commercial Tax Department of Tamil Nadu had ordered Vijay to pay the penalty of Rs 30.23 lakh for the interim period of non-payment of tax. However, the actor paid the liability of seven lakhs, but challenged the penalty in the HC.
An application was submitted by Vijay seeking permission to get his car registered and he obtained an interim order to get the vehicle registered at the concerned Regional Transport Office.
He alleged that the authorities of the Commercial Tax department remained quiet from 2005 to 2017 without sending him a notice for the tax and penalty since related matters were pending before the Supreme Court. However, he sold his luxury car in 2009.
Since there was a delay in replying to the demand notice, the official concerned issued a recovery notice on December 17 stating that non-payment of the penalty could lead to attachment of bank accounts, movable properties and also civil arrest.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Vijay will be next seen in Varisu opposite Rashmika Mandanna. There are also reports that he will make a special appearance in Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan.
