In a significant legal setback for actor-turned-politician and TVK chief Vijay, the Madras High Court has dismissed his petition challenging a ₹1.50 crore penalty imposed by the Income Tax Department. The penalty stems from allegations that Vijay failed to properly disclose ₹15 crore of additional income during the 2015-16 financial year, a discrepancy uncovered during tax searches at his residence back in September 2015.
Vijay had filed a case concerning this issue in the High Court back in 2022 and had been arguing against the legality of the imposed penalty. His arguments also failed as Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy ruled on Friday that the show cause notice issued had been issued within a specified timeframe as per the Income Tax Act Sec. 263.
While the ruling clears the way for the Income Tax Department to enforce the penalty, the court did grant Vijay the liberty to approach the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) to challenge the order on other merits, excluding the limitation grounds already decided.
The matter has a chequered history, commencing with an assessment order in 2017, pertaining to searches conducted in 2015. At one point in time, the assessee (Vijay) had partial success in setting aside the assessment before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals); however, partial success had also accrued to the department at the ITAT stage itself with respect to certain disallowances relating to the fan clubs of the actor. Thus, the central issue falling for consideration before the High Court was whether the ultimate penalty proceedings were initiated within the period stipulated by statute— a question, as already stated above, which was answered by the court in favour of the department.
Also read: Only TVK can defeat DMK, says Vijay
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