Rolls Royce case: HC expunges single judge’s harsh comments against actor Vijay

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has on Tuesday expunged several comments made by a single judge last July which is critical in nature against actor Vijay. 

The criticism was made while the actor approached the Madras HC challenging the entry tax levied by the State government for his imported Rolls-Royce Ghost car from England in 2012.

Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and Justice A Mohammed Shaffiq passed the direction on allowing Vijay’s appeal petition to challenge the single judge’s comments.

Senior Counsel Vijay Narayan appearing for actor Vijay submitted that the observations made by Justice SM Subramaniam are unwanted since the petitioner has not misled the court.

“We have adhered to the court order and paid the tax. The single also passed an order to pay Rs 1 lakh as the penalty which should be paid for the CM’s public relief fund. As per the directions of the Supreme Court, the judges should not pass harsh comments against the litigants,” the senior counsel argued.

He further submitted that the single judge questioned his client why he failed to mention his profession. “It is very inappropriate to ask someone to mention his profession in the affidavit,” the senior counsel added.

On recording the submissions, the bench allowed the appeal and adjourned the matter without mentioning any date. 

On October 25, Vijay Narayan informed the bench that the actor had paid the remaining entry tax to the tune of Rs.32 lakhs. Therefore, Madras HC has passed an interim order staying the penalty imposed by the single judge.