Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Wednesday suffered an embarrassment when the Madras High Court dismissed as withdrawn a writ petition filed by him challenging civic body’s demand for Rs 6.5 lakh in property taxes with respect to a marriage hall owned by him.
Justice Anita Sumanth warned Rajinikanth’s counsel, Vijayan Subramanian, that she would impose costs for rushing to the court without waiting for a reply from the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on the issue.
She also pulled up the counsel for wasting the court’s time and suggested that the plea be withdrawn. A few hours later, Rajinikanth’s counsel submitted a memo seeking to withdraw the case after which Justice Anita Sumanth dismissed the petition.
The judge also suggested that the petitioners can send reminders to authorities to respond to their representations before approaching the court. The actor’s contention is that since the marriage hall has been vacant since March 24, the day Covid-19 lockdown came into force in Tamil Nadu, he is eligible for remission of property tax.
He referred to Section 105 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act of 1919 which says the Commissioner can allow remission of property tax if the building had been vacant for over 30 days.
Rajinikanth, according to the petition, sent a representation to the GCC on September 23 seeking remission and since there was no response from the civic body, he moved the court.
In the petition, Rajinikanth had asked the court to issue a direction to the civic body to not levy any penalty till it disposes off his representation. The actor approached the court as the last date for paying the property tax amount ends on October 15.
According to the GCC, property tax is collected twice every year – in April and October – and the same should be paid by 15th of the month.
“If someone pays on time, he will get a five per cent rebate. If he does not pay on time, the person will have to pay a penalty. This has been the rule for long,” a GCC official said.
The GCC also issued a press release on Wednesday asking people to pay their property tax on time to avoid penalty.