The Madras High Court on Tuesday expunged “offending and objectionable” remarks made by a single judge on July 8, 2021, while disposing of a 2012 writ petition filed by actor C. Vijay Joseph seeking entry tax exemption for his Rolls Royce Ghost imported from England.
Allowing a writ appeal preferred by the actor last year only to get the remarks expunged, a Division Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and Mohammed Shaffiq held that the “disparaging” remarks made by the single judge against the actor were “wholly unwarranted.”
The Bench concurred with senior counsel Vijay Narayan that there was great uncertainty over the legal position on collection of entry tax until the Supreme Court upheld such collection in 2017 and therefore, the actor could not be blamed for having filed a case in 2012.
“Thus, to impute motives to a litigant or castigating him for taking a particular legal position or exercising his Constitutional right under Article 226 (writ jurisdiction of High Courts) is unwarranted,” the two judges wrote after taking note that the actor paid the tax in full last year.
Authoring the verdict for the Bench, Justice Sathyanarayana, also said: “The charm and dignity of a judge gets enhanced by sobriety, restraint, grace and concern for the cause of justice.”
The Bench also recorded the submissions of Mr. Narayan that the “uncharitable and castigating” remarks made by the single judge against his client had hurt the actor badly, and that they would not only affect his future career but also his reputation, integrity and conduct.
