Comments passed by judge hurt me, actor Vijay pleads to expunge remarks

Vijay said there was no problem in paying a fine of Rs 1 lakh and was willing to pay even two crores, but insisted that the negative comment should be removed. Following this, the judges adjourned the case without mentioning a date.

Chennai: Tamil actor Vijay's advocate Vijay Narayan on Monday told the Madras High Court that it was unnecessary for the judge to criticize the actor for purchasing a luxury car as it was purchased through hard work.

Narayan, while arguing against the judge's criticisms, said statements such as "case was being pursued to avoid paying taxes", "while the fans think he is the real protagonist, don't be a Reel protagonist", "refusing to pay taxes", were unnecessary. "It was unnecessary for the judge to criticize purchasing luxury car as it was purchased through hard work. The cine industry is providing employment to millions and that there was no intention of tax evasion. It was wrong to call oneself anti-national and that the judge's comments had not been made in any other case" he said.

It was argued that the Supreme Court had said that judges should not make harsh comments and in some cases, the court could examine the judges who mislead and the tax could also be prosecuted if it was unconstitutional. Judges Pushpa Satyanarayana and Mohammad Shafiq, who heard the case, questioned why the session should not ask the concerned judge to remove certain comments.

Vijay lamented that not only his case but also the case of actors Dhanush and Surya were also similarly publicly criticized by tagging them as actors and that these comments were personally offensive and portrayed as guilty. He said there was no problem in paying a fine of Rs 1 lakh and was willing to pay even two crores, but insisted that the negative comment should be expunged. Following this, the judges adjourned the case without mentioning a date.

Earlier, this year a petition was filed on behalf of Vijay seeking an injunction against the imposition of entry tax while he had paid the import duty already. However, Madras High Court judge SM Subramaniam dismissed the case and said the actors should pay their taxes on time and advised that one should be real heroes and not reel heroes and fined the actor an additional Rs1 lakh.

Following that, an appeal was lodged on behalf of actor Vijay earlier against the order of the particular judge who imposed the fine and sought removal of the personal attack of the judgment against him. The case came up for hearing Monday in a session of Justices Pushpa Satyanarayana and Mohammad Shafiq.

Vijay Narayan, a senior advocate appeared on behalf of actor Vijay said that the outstanding tax of Rs 32 lakhs and 30 thousand had not been paid on August 7. And the order of the particular judge had been implemented as it had been accepted by the Government. He further argued to expunge the comments against Vijay from the verdict.

"The entry tax problem has existed for 20 years and that the Union Government could legislate because the state government could not legislate on the issue of customs duty," he said. The advocate also pointed out that Vijay had said that his profession was not mentioned in the case documents and there was no need for it.