Bombay High Court Frowns At Actor Anushka Sharma For Filing Tax Petition Through Her Tax Consultant

"These Petitions are filed through Taxation Consultant of the Petitioner. There is no reason shown as to why the Petitioner cannot file these Petitions on solemn affirmation," a division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Gauri Godse said in the order.

The petitioner's lawyer Advocates Deepak Bapat and Sonali Bapat subsequently agreed to withdraw the petition and file a fresh one. "The Writ Petitions are accordingly disposed of with liberty to the Petitioner to file Petitions afresh on the Petitioner's own affirmation," the bench said in the order.

Sharma had field the tax petition through her consultant Shrikant Velekar. Sharma had challenged orders of the deputy commissioner of sales tax, Mazgaon, regarding dues from 2012-13 and 2013-14 for assessment under The Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act.

It is Anushka's case that the assessing officer wrongly held that by endorsing products and anchoring she acquired copyrights which are tangible goods, that are sold and transferred. She was liable to pay only 5% tax, she said. She contended that the copyright always remains with the producer or the respective artist as the case may be.

In her plea, she claimed to have acted in several films as well as award functions according to the tri-parte agreement with Yashraj Films Pvt Ltd. The assessing officer levied sales tax for endorsements and comparing events. The demand inclusive of interest was Rs. Rs. 1.2 crore and 12.3 Crore for 2012-13 and for 2013-14 it was nearly Rs. 17 crore. Sharma said there was no way to appeal against this unless 10% of the tax was paid.

During the hearing AGP Jyoti Chavan argued that the actor had alternate remedies to pursue. Therefore, while allowing her to withdraw the plea, the high court left the state's contention for an alternate remedy open for examination.