Days after actor Vijay has got a relief of revocation of the penalty levied on him for not paying the entry tax for his luxurious car, actor Dhanush is now on the line of a case akin to that of Vijay's in challenging the entry tax for his vehicle. Dhanush's plea to challenge the entry tax will be heard by the single-judge bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday by Justice SM Subramaniam, the same judge who slapped the penalty of Rs 1 lakh on Vijay for not paying the entry tax. 

According to reports in the know, a final verdict would be pronounced on Dhanush's plea on Thursday by the judicial body. Dhanush has imported a luxurious car in 2015 for which he had paid import tax. However, the Tamil Nadu commercial taxes department has directed Dhanush to pay the entry tax of Rs 60.66 lakh for his car post which registration will be done. The actor has then decided to initiate a legal fight against the directive of the commercial taxes department and the entry.

He has filed a petition to the Madras High Court in 2015 seeking a directive to revoke the order from the department and to repeal the entry tax for his car. In the successive hearings, the single-judge bench has ordered Dhanush to pay 50 per cent of the entry tax to register his car. With the order, the reports say that the actor has paid Rs 30.33 lakh as entry tax and completed the registration process.  

In their legal fight against the entry tax, both Vijay and Dhanush had quoted the judgment of the Kerala High Court, which spelt that entry tax shouldn't be made mandatory after paying the import tax. There have been several debates over the verdict of the Kerala High Court and several petitions were filed demanding the relinquishment of the entry tax. The judgment was also challenged in the Supreme Court and in 2019, the apex court has ordered that the state governments have authority over collecting entry tax. 

Six years of moving his petition, Dhanush awaits the final verdict on Thursday and it will be penned by the same judge, who came down hard on Vijay for evading the entry tax. By invoking Rs 1 lakh fine for Vijay, the judge has said, "People are under the impression that they are real heroes. Hence, they are not expected to be like reel heroes. The act of evading tax is considered an anti-national habit and unconstitutional. These actors are displaying themselves as the saviour of social justice on the screens but they are evading tax, which is not in consonance with the provisions of the statutes."

Vijay has bought a Rolls Royce car in 2012 from the UK and he was challenging the entry tax demanded from him. Vijay had registered his vehicle by paying 20 per cent of the entry tax and earlier last month, judge  SM Subramaniam has ordered the actor to pay a Rs 1 lakh fine along with the rest of the entry tax. As Vijay found that the judge has made objectionable comments against him, he has filed a petition of appeal to challenge the verdict by the single-judge bench and to remove the objectionable comments. 

His petition was heard by the High Court bench comprising of Justices Duraiswamy and Hemalatha. During the hearing, Vijay's counsel has criticized the verdict penned by Justice Subramaniam. Vijay's advocate said that Justice Subramaniam has made objectionable comments in a fashion that the actor is against the nation. The advocate has also said that the courts should not put out degrading comments against the petitioners. By citing that every citizen has a right to fight the tax imposition, Vijay's advocate Vijayanarayanan has asked whether Vijay is the reason for making the petition run for nine years. 

The counsel further argued that the order from the single-judge bench has contained adverse remarks which created negative publicity for the actor. Vijay's counsel has also said that the actor is ready to pay the rest of the entry tax and sought a directive to repeal the penalty. After hearing the case, the Madras High Court bench has stayed the order of fine of Rs 1 lakh. By giving relief to Vijay in his demand of repealing the fine, the High Court bench has asked the actor to pay the entry tax amount and ordered the Income Tax department to issue a demand challan to the actor.