Chennai: The XIII metropolitan magistrate court, Egmore, has directed the police to investigate a complaint against the secretary, principal secretary of the commercial taxes department and the production house of superstar Rajinikanth’s movie Kochadaiyaan which hit silverscreens across the globe in May this year, and register a case against them if any cognisable offence was made out in connection with an allegation of entertainment tax fraud.
In the petition, K.J. Saravanan, high court advocate, submitted that as per G.O. No. 89, dated July 21, 2011, commercial taxes and registration (C1) department of the government exempted payment of entertainment taxes to film production companies in Tamil Nadu which make movies with exclusive Tamil names with certain conditions.
On August 12, 2014, the petitioner watched Tamil film Kochadaiyaan produced by Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd, in a theatre in Chennai, purchasing a ticket for '120. He said the theatre management collected entertainment tax despite exemption granted by the commercial taxes department in an order dated May 12, 2014.
He came to know that Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd had obtained a ‘U’ certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification on May 7, 2014 for another film Kochadaiyaan - The Legend 3D with an English title, for which tax exemption was not granted. As the theatre owner exhibited Kochadaiyaan - The Legend 3D (with English title), the production house made a huge profit illegally using the tax exemption obtained for the Tamil film.
Saravanan filed a petition with the DGP seeking action against the secretary, principal secretary of commercial taxes department for their failure to enforce and monitor the collection of entertainment tax. Since there was no response, he filed the petition with XIII metropolitan magistrate court, Egmore.
XIII MM judge S. Sivasubramanian found a prima facie case and forwarded the petition to the inspector, Triplicane police station, to register a case, investigate it and file a final report to the court.
