Madras high court reserves order on actor Vijay's plea challenging Rs 1.5crore income tax penalty

CHENNAI: Madras high court on Friday reserved its order on a plea moved by actor and founder of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) Vijay challenging a Rs 1.5crore penalty imposed by the income tax department for allegedly not disclosing his true income during the assessment period 2015-16.

Concluding the final hearing, Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy reserved his order. According to Vijay, he declared an income of Rs 35.42 crore for the financial year 2016-17. However, based on documents seized by the department during a raid conducted at his residence in 2015, the department claimed that he had not disclosed Rs 15crore income earned from the movie Puli.




Based on the findings, the department imposed a penalty of Rs 1.5 crore through an order dated June 30, 2022. Challenging the order, Vijay moved the present plea. Admitting the plea, a single judge on Aug 16, 2022, granted an interim stay against the operation of the order passed by the department.

Vijay contended that the penalty should have been issued before June 30, 2019. Since the order was passed belatedly, it should be set aside. Opposing the submissions, the department submitted that the penalty imposed on Vijay was valid under the Income Tax Act and, therefore, his petition should be dismissed.