A day after HC warning, Rajini pays 6.5 LK property tax

Chennai:A day after the Madras High Court warned him for wasting its time by filing a case seeking property tax relief of Rs 6.5 lakh for his marriage hall, actor Rajinikanth today paid the amount after posting a tweet that the mistake could have been avoided.

Earlier, After Justice Ms Anita Sumanth warned of imposing costs on the petitioner for wasting the court's time and rushing to the court without giving time for the officials to consider his tax 

remission plea, the actor's counsel filed a memo agreeing to withdraw the case.The court accepted it and dismissed the case as withdrawn. 

Ms Justice Sumanth said 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 plea, Rajini said he had been paying property tax regularly for the Raghavendra marriage hall located at Kodambakkam area in the city, with the last one paid on February 14.

Subsequently the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and the Central and State governments imposed a total lockdown following which the marriage hall remained vacant and was not rented to anyone since March 24.

In such circumstances, the actor received an invoice from the Corporation on September 10, asking him to pay Rs 6.50 lakh as property tax for the six-month period from April to September.

Stating that he had cancelled all bookings for his marriage hall after March 24 and even refunded the advance money in accordance with the government instructions, the actor said he was entitled to vacancy remission on property tax.

He also referred to Section 105 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919, which provides for remission of tax if the premises remained vacant for over 30 days and insisted on extending the benefit to him.

Stating that he had also sent a notice to the Corporation on September 23 but has not received any reply till date, Rajini prayed for a direction to the civic body to dispose of the notice and not levy penalty or interest till then.(UNI)