The Hindu : PIL in Kerala HC against duty exemption for Tendulkar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 21, 2003

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PIL in Kerala HC against duty exemption for Tendulkar

By K.C. Gopakumar

KOCHI Aug. 20. A public interest writ petition was filed today before the Kerala High Court challenging the customs duty exemption granted to Sachin Tendulkar, cricketer, for importing a sport car gifted by the World Car Racing Champion, Michael Schumacher.

The petition was filed by Sanu Joe Mathew of Thiruvananthapuram. According to him, the exemption given by the Central Government was ``illegal and discriminatory''. The Government waived a duty of Rs.1.06 crores on his car. Ferrari-360 Modena Car was flown into Mumbai by the Air France Flight on August 7. The petitioner said that Section 25 of the Customs Act empowered the Central Government to waive custom duty on imported goods if it was satisfied that exemption should be given in public interest. Besides, the Section stipulated that such exemption could be granted only after assessing the relevant materials in this regard and also only in exceptional cases. That apart, a notification to the effect had to be published in the Government gazette.

The petitioner alleged that no public interest was involved in granting the duty exemption to the cricketer. If the Government had collected the actual duty from Mr. Tendulkar, it could have been utilised for public welfare schemes or paying pension to freedom fighters and employees, for which many cases were pending in various courts. ``Besides, the action of the Central Government violated Article 14 of the Constitution (Equality before law).'' The petitioner sought a direction to the Union Finance Ministry and the Union Government to recover the customs duty due from the cricketer.

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