Madras High Court asks Registry to list plea for criminal case against TVK chief Vijay over income suppression

The Madras High Court has ordered the listing of a petition seeking proceedings under Income Tax Act and registration of a criminal case against actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay over alleged suppression of income and receipt of unaccounted cash [Rajkumar v. Director General of Income Tax].

The High Court Registry had earlier declined to register the plea over the question of maintainability.

In an order passed on April 8, a Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan directed the Registry to number the writ petition filed by M Rajkumar with the endorsement “numbered subject to maintainability” and list it before the roster Bench.

Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has won 108 seats in the recently-held assembly elections, leaving it 10 seats short of a majority. With the support of other parties, Vijay is set to take over as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

The petition filed last month seeks directions to the Income Tax Department to examine materials from certain search proceedings, Vijay’s sworn statement, assessment proceedings and a penalty order and to initiate prosecution under the Income Tax Act, including Section 276C.

It also seeks registration of a First Information Report (FIR) for alleged offences under the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal conspiracy.

The petitioner has further sought directions to place the material before Enforcement Directorate to examine whether there exists material for a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The order to register the petition was passed after the Registry placed the writ petition before the Court under the caption “for maintainability”.

The Bench said that the Registry cannot refuse to number a case on the ground that it may not be maintainable in law.

The Court also referred to an earlier circular issued by the Registrar General directing the Registry not to refuse numbering of petitions on maintainability grounds.

“However in spite of the issue having been settled and also necessary Circulars in this regard having been issued, we are surprised to note that still the Registry is continuing with the practice of not numbering the petition on the ground that it is not maintainable,” the Court said.

The Bench directed that if case papers are otherwise in order, the Registry must number the case. If it has doubts on maintainability, it can endorse the case as “numbered subject to maintainability” and place it before the roster Bench, the Court said.

It directed the Registrar General to circulate the copy of this order to all the concerned sections of the Registry.

"Henceforth, the directions issued shall be scrupulously followed by the Registry," the Bench said.

The petitioners were represented by Advocates Advocate Sunny Sheen and S Sathish.

[Read Order]