‘Gethu’ Tax Exemption Controversy takes a new turn

Looks like that the battle of producer-actor Udhayandhi Stalin with the Tamil Nadu Government over the issue of granting the Entertainment Tax Exemption for his last release 'Gethu' is far from over.

The Government has obtained an interim stay from the Madras High Court for an earlier order of a Single Judge of the same Court directing the Government to give the exemption for the film right from the day of its release.

The Tax Exemption Committee of the Government refused to grant exemption for the U certified film stating that the title Gethu was not a Tamil word. Udhay who had produced the film under his Red Giant Movies banner and acted in the lead role had approached the Madras High Court stating that Gethu is indeed a Tamil word and it is included in Tamil dictionary. .

The Government drew the difference in phonetics for its defense arguing that 'Gethu' could not be considered as Tamil word as the word mentioned in Tamil dictionary shall be pronounced as 'Kethu' and not 'Gethu'.

The judge however did not rely on this argument and ordered for the grant of exemption for the film directed by Thirukumaran of 'Maan Karate' fame.

Now the Government has obtained a stay for this order from a Two judge bench of the same court.

We will have to wait for the reaction of Udhanidhi Stalin for the latest Court order. It is worth recalling that he is already at wars with the Government over the Tax exemption claim for his previous film 'Nanbenda'.