Madras HC dismisses as withdrawn Rajinikanth’s plea against property tax demand for marriage hall – The Hindu

Chennai News

Actor files memo after judge warns of imposing costs for moving court without giving time to officials to consider his plea for tax remission

The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed as withdrawn a writ petition filed by actor Rajinikanth against a demand for property tax to the tune of ₹6.50 lakh by Greater Chennai Corporation for his Raghavendra marriage hall located at Kodambakkam here.

Justice Anita Sumanth accepted a memo filed by the actor’s counsel agreeing to withdraw the case. The memo was filed after the judge warned of imposing costs on the petitioner for rushing to the court without giving sufficient time to the officials to consider his plea for tax remission.

The judge told the counsel that she had been telling time and again to all litigants before the court to not waste the judicial time by filing cases immediately after sending representations to the officials concerned. She said the litigants must send reminders too to the officials, if required.

Justice Sumanth said that the actor must have pursued the matter with the Corporation on the basis of a representation made by him seeking ‘vacancy remission’ under Section 105 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act of 1919 and convinced them about his eligibility.

In his affidavit, Mr. Rajinikanth stated that he was the owner of the marriage hall named Raghavendra Mandapam and that he had been paying property tax regularly for the marriage hall. The second half-yearly tax for 2019-20 was paid last on February 14 this year.

Thereafter, the pandemic COVID-19 broke out and there was a nationwide lockdown since March 24. The Centre extended the lockdown for quite some time and thereafter the State government continued the lockdown in so far as Tamil Nadu was concerned.

Consequently, Raghavendra Mandapam was not let out to anyone since March 24 and it remained vacant. Advance money received for bookings post March 24 was also returned to the people concerned on the basis of the instructions issued by the State government.

Despite all these developments, the actor received a tax invoice from the Greater Chennai Corporation on September 10 asking him to pay ₹6,50,660 towards property tax for the marriage hall for the period from April to September this year.

On September 23, the actor sent a “notice” to the Corporation claiming that he was entitled to vacancy remission on property tax. He also cited Section 105 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act of 1919 in support of his claim.

The Section provides for remission of tax if a premises remained vacant for more than 30 days, he said, and insisted on according the benefit to him. Stating that his plea was not considered, he had approached the court seeking a direction to dispose his “notice.”

He also urged the court to restrain the corporation from levying 2% penalty with interest for non-payment of property tax before October 15.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/madras-hc-dismisses-as-withdrawn-rajinikanths-plea-against-property-tax-demand-for-marriage-hall/article32852300.ece