Chennai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a writ petition moved by actor Suriya in 2018 seeking waiver of interest slapped on the income tax between 2007 and 2009.
The income tax department had in 2010 conducted a sudden raid on properties belonging to Suriya and his close. In 2011, the I-T department had ordered him to pay Rs 3.11 crore for the assessment years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. In 2018, Suriya had filed a writ petition to quash the proceedings against him dated May 2018.
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“The case is not one where a regular assessment has been passed. There was a search operation conducted in the actor’s premises, based on which the assessment orders were passed. There was non co-operation on the part of the petitioner. Even in such circumstances, the petitioner had no intention to pay the interest based on the demand,” the IT department counsel submitted.
The counsel for the I-T department said though the orders against the actor were passed in 2011, he only moved the court seeking a waiver six years later. “Once the tax demand was not complied with, the department is entitled to claim interest under section 220 (2A) of Income Tax act,” the counsel for the department argued.
The court, on the other hand, was convinced that Suriya had taken more than 45 days to file a return of income after the search and that he had not co-operated in the completion of the assessment.
