Madras HC dismisses TVK chief’s plea challenging I-T dept’s Rs 1.50 cr penalty

The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a writ petition of TVK chief Vijay challenging an order of the Income Tax department directing him to pay a Rs 1.50 crore penalty for alleged non-disclosure of his full income during 2015-16.  Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, dismissing the petition filed by Vijay, said the order imposing a penalty was within the time limit and hence, there was no infirmity warranting interference with the order. Hence, the petition was dismissed, the judge added.

On a request made on behalf of Vijay by his counsel to grant liberty to challenge the order, the judge said it was open to the petitioner to assail the order before the appellate authority. The judge had on January 23 reserved orders after hearing the arguments from both sides. According to Vijay, he declared an income of Rs 35.42 crore for the financial year 2016-2017. However, based on the documents seized during a raid conducted by the Income Tax department at his residence in 2015, the department alleged that he had not disclosed an income of Rs 15 crore earned from the Tamil film “Puli”.