CHENNAI: Observing that ‘Gethu’ is a Tamil word, Madras High Court has set aside an order of the State government refusing entertainment tax (ET) exemption to Tamil feature film ‘Gethu’, produced by Red Giant Movies, in which Udhayanidhi, the lead actor in the film, is a partner.
Accepting the arguments of senior counsel P Wilson, Justice M Duraiswamy, who quashed the order dated January 14 last, also directed the Commercial Taxes department to grant the exemption from the date of its release on January 14 and to refund the tax so far collected to the petitioner production company.
The judge was allowing a writ petition from Red Giant Movies, by its manager S Saravanamuthu of Nungambakkam, on Friday.
In support of his finding, the Judge also noted that even the word “Tamil” has been written as ”Tamil”, though the actual pronunciation of the word in English is “Thamizh”. If the contention of the Government is accepted, then, the word “Tamil” itself could not be construed as a Tamil word. Hence, the Court reasoned that the contention of the authorities that the word “Gethu” is not a Tamil word could not be accepted.
Even in the dictionary viz ‘Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Tamil Language,’ published by the Directorate of Tamil Etymological Dictionary Project, the word “Gethu” finds a place, the Judge pointed out.
Moreover, the six members of the viewing committee, in their individual recommendations had mentioned the name of the movie as “Gethu” in Tamil. In spite of mentioning the name as “Gethu”, the members have wrongly come to the conclusion that the word is not a Tamil word, the Judge added and allowed the writ petition.